Begin Again
by flawedperfectionx
Summary: Becoming human was the start of a new beginning for both Stefan and Elena, but that doesn't mean it's the end of their troubles. AU from 4x04 on.
1. The Beginnings always happy

**Begin Again**

* * *

Living life as a human isn't exactly how it was cut out to be. He supposes that nearly one hundred and fifty years lived as a vampire has left him incapable of surviving as a human.

It's been two years since the cure had been found, since he'd been the first willing participant to try it, and Elena soon after. It's been four months since she accepted his proposal. Three since they eloped in Paris.

Living as a human, it's everything Stefan had wanted and now he got to spend it with Elena and vice versa.

When Elena wakes, it's just past six. She rolled over in her spot to see Stefan with his arm covering his eyes, the way he sleeps most of the night. She smiled to herself and settled cosily beside him. Her mind drifts to a time long before when he caught her staring when she hears, "this staring thing is a problem of yours, isn't it?"

Elena wrinkled his nose and stuck her tongue out. "If you didn't like it, you wouldn't have married me." She said matter-of-factly, and he takes his arm away from his eyes to look at her, knowing she was right.

Stefan Salvatore might as well have 'Elena's bitch' on his ass cheek.

"Well I don't know about that..." he said, laughing before he could even finish his train of thought. Elena laughed with him, sitting up. Stefan thought about pulling her back down but he was getting a nice view of her cleavage so he left it. "How was your sleep?"

Elena, by now, has picked up to where his eyes were staring and pulls up her shirt just a little and sticks her tongue out at him again. It's a cute thing she begun lately, sighting that his immature human behaviour was the start of the madness. "It was good, you didn't snore last night." She teased, tracing her finger over his chest. He's chuckling now too, knowing that even if he was kidding, his snoring did get on every one of her nerves. He never noticed he did it before, but then again, he supposed it wasn't a factor when he was a vampire. "But it was damn hot in here. You had the covers pulled up to your neck and I was sitting on top of them."

It's the first time that he's noticed his wife is wearing nothing but her panties and pink tank top since he woke and he inwardly curses himself for not noticing such an important attribute about her. He loves Elena naked, but he would easily settle for half naked Elena. "It's September." He said softly with a raise of his eyebrow. "How in God's name was it too hot for you?"

Elena giggled and shrugged her shoulder, the thin strap of her spaghetti strap tank-top falling over her shoulder and down her arm as she did so. "Guess you're just radiating hotness." She blushed the moment she said it and dipped her head, but it's only for a moment before her backs on the bed and he's over top of her, eyebrows raised to the ceiling.

"Is that so?" He asked as he lowered his lips to her jaw line and began to trace an outline with his kisses. Elena tried to bite back a moan, but then all she can think of is that Little Stefan is poking into her inner thigh and she knows exactly where this is going. She doesn't try to deny it either.

She's rid of her shirt in moments and his mouth descends on her perky breasts and erect nipples, swirling his tongue around the left nipple before attending to its twin. Elena's back arched in his direction and almost forcefully, her eyes closed and a loud moan emitted from her mouth. She's glad that their next door neighbour is half a mile away and needs a hearing aid to be able to hear the door knock. There's more room for freedom in their sex life, and she's grateful for it. After all those times sneaking around Jeremy and Damon, she thought they-

"Holy shit" she breathes out as his lips descend from her breasts to the spot between her thighs, cutting off her train of thought all together. He pressed another kiss over her panties and she gasps for air. Elena doesn't mind, though, because the way he works his tongue around is the perfect wakeup call for the morning and she's glad she has him in her life. He's her perfect man. He removes her panties and tosses them over his shoulder; probably in the same place her last pair was lost.

Stefan chuckled against her and the vibrations sent right through his lips to her clitoris, which was his next victim of his ministrations. Elena's hips buckle and he presses them back down, pressing a kiss against the area above her vagina, whispering for her to be patient but she whines back something about her ripping her favourite appendage off if he doesn't hurry his ass up.

Stefan takes the hint for what it's worth and rolls her on top, surprised that he'd given control to her for at least only a moment. Elena quickly recovers and begins to try and remove his clothing, successfully removing his shirt before he pushes her back on the bed and removes the rest of their clothing himself, sighting that she was "taking too damn long."

He settled down between her thighs, Little Stefan saluting the view in front of him. Elena giggled at her own name for his appendage, a name that Stefan didn't particularly get along with but let her call it whatever she wanted to, as long as she would never stop making him feel the way she did. He reached and lifted her legs around his waist, but Elena takes this as an opportunity and pushes them back so she's sitting on his lap and there's less breathing room than either of them can handle. But she sits up and slides down on him, taking every single inch of him into her tight depths.

Stefan can't find words the way he used to; he used to be able to describe his sex life with Elena because he would vividly remember it. Now, he was lucky if he could remember if she wore socks. As a vampire, he took the time to remember every single inch of her body. As a human, his teenage hormones took control. Which Elena didn't mind one bit.

Their bodies began to move in synchronization, his hips arching into hers as she moved back down and then moving away as she lifted herself up and down. It was slow and messy and the perfect way to begin their day. He brushed her hair away from her face and lowered his lips on hers, capturing her breathy gasp in his mouth as he lowered them back down on the bed, her legs clinging still around his waist.

They make love that morning and fall asleep just as the clock hits eight.

When he wakes up a few hours later, he's alone in bed and all he can hear is silence. There's no fear that Elena has left him, but silence was never a good thing either. He got up and walked to his closet, dressing quickly before he leaves the room. "Elena?" He calls, but there's no answer.

Stefan moved down the stairs after checking the other rooms, and then the living room, dining room and kitchen – even the bathrooms – with no sign of his wife. Her car is still in the driveway and all he can think is maybe Caroline called her for a girls' day out, but there's no note and he's beginning to get worried. Just as he pulled out his phone, a flash of purple catches his eyes and he notices his wife out on the dock just outside of their home, wrapped up in a blanket and reading a book. He exhaled a breath of relief before walking to the French doors and then out of the house.

Elena doesn't react when he moved closer to her, but instead changed the page to her book and he can hear her soft giggle and knew immediately she was doing it on purpose. But instead of getting agitated, he played along, walking over to her chair and sitting down purposely on her, pretending to look at the view. It's not until Elena bursts into laughter and pokes his chest does he look over at her. "Stefan, what are you doing? You're so silly."

"I do believe you were ignoring me, so I was ignoring you as well." He winked in her direction but she wrinkled her nose and attempted to kick her feet and thus, get his weight off of her, but he was slightly heavier than she was and there was no such luck in doing so. Stefan, seeing her struggles, got up and moved behind her stealthily.

Elena smiled and leaned back into his chest before she closed her book and looked back up at him. "I wasn't ignoring you." She lied, smiling as he wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her temple, whispering, "liar" against the skin.

This is what happiness feels like, she thought as she and Stefan sat there in the morning. Even though she knew Stefan would have to leave and see how the Salvatore publishing company was going very soon, she allowed herself to enjoy the moment rather than think of the future, for just once. Because the future was a very scary place, full of uncertainty.

That reminded her that she still had to write the ending of her first novel, _Canvas Of My Heart _but instead of worrying about the details of their day, she leaned back into his arms and pretended that the rest of their life could and would be spent in the loveliness of this moment.

_**xoxo**_

So I'm back with this idea, stemmed indefinitely from the newest episode of TVD and the rumors of "the cure." This is post-TVD about four years, so they've graduated both HS and College for Elena. I hope you like what I have so far and I hope I've caught your interest, but let's just say that this fic is going in a completely different direction than you think it is. Trust me.

Xo, Leighton


	2. We all go a little mad sometimes

Protection had never been a problem for them. When they first started making love, Elena was a human and Stefan a vampire and thus infertile. It was un-needed and frankly not something either of them enjoyed. And even as a human-human combo, they never thought of the consequences of not using protection. They were so used to there being none, even though a smart couple of people – certainly not themselves – probably would have thought about that first when Stefan's swimmers started swimming again.

Elena didn't know why she was thinking about that instead of listening to Caroline, who rambled on about Klaus and his obvious distaste for his brother's new girlfriend. Even though Elena didn't necessarily side with Caroline about giving Katherine a chance, as she didn't necessarily like her predecessor either.

"Elena!" Caroline whined, tossing a napkin at her, which caught the brunette by surprise but she quickly recovered, frowning in Caroline's direction. "Have you been listening to a damn word I've been saying?"

Truth be told, Caroline was definitely one of the most feisty women Elena knew, and with that being said she knew better than to anger the blond, even if she wasn't necessarily trying it. "Sorry," she blushed as she recalled the conversation she'd been having in her mind and what she'd been thinking about instead of listening to her friend. "I heard most of it, if it's any consolation."

The blond rolled her eyes and settled back into the uncomfortable booth. Even though there'd been a snow storm the night before, the weather today was surprisingly nice so Caroline insisted they meet up, exclaiming that the fact that they hadn't seen each other since Christmas was a crime. Literally, it'd only been about a week since the girls had seen each other and frankly, Elena hadn't noticed. Stefan had been keeping her quite busy.

Of course, it was so cold in their bedroom at night and there was only one way to solve that. Elena found herself blushing as her mind once again trailed off to her husband. Caroline watched her expectantly as though she was waiting for Elena to respond to something she said, which more than likely she was. "It's just irritating dealing with Klaus when he's half angered and half just butt hurt." She rolled her eyes and caught the arm of one of the waitresses. "Refill please." She said as she handed her the hot chocolate she'd been mindlessly sipping through their conversation. Even as a vampire, Caroline still enjoyed the little things of human life.

While many of the people who were once vampires now resided in Mystic Falls as humans, when the time came down for the decision, Caroline and Klaus opted to stay vampires. Elena had never questioned her decision, nor had anyone else to her knowledge but that didn't mean she didn't wonder why the blond hadn't decided to turn alongside her friends. Long after Tyler's death, Elena believed that a great deal of her decision was influenced by her feelings for the original vampire.

"Well you're the one who decided to stick with him for the rest of eternity." Elena joked as she settled back nervously, staring down at her coffee which she'd taken a sip out of and then decided the taste was just too bad to continue to drink. Caroline had probably took in the sight earlier but never offered to get her a better cup herself, which she was slightly thankful for, as the last thing Elena wanted was confrontation. "I guess that means dealing with Elijah and Katherine for that long too." Caroline wrinkled her nose at that thought. "Think on the bright side, with any luck, she'll get bored of him and you'll only have to deal with brooding Klaus for a limited time."

The blond sighed and thanked the waitress as she returned with the fresh cup of hot chocolate, lifting it to her lips. After a long while, she pulled it away and shook her head. "With my luck, they're in it for life."

Elena couldn't help but laugh at that.

**XOXO**

Elena loved Caroline; there was no denying that after a long day spent with her best friend, she needed her relaxing time. So the moment she stepped foot into their home, Elena was walking toward the stairs and thus the master bath, thinking that it was exactly what she needed right at that moment.

Boy was she right.

Baths were the most relaxing element of her life, and while her busy schedule rarely permitted the use of the bathtub, there were times when she was glad to just embrace the once-a-blue-moon occurrence of her bathing and live with the shower on a regular basis.

She hadn't realized she'd been drifting off to sleep until she opened her eyes again and she was on the bed. Looking over at the clock, she noticed it was just past two and Stefan wouldn't be home until much later on. "How did I-"

"I helped you." An unfamiliar voice came from the other side of the room and Elena's head shot in the direction, staring with awe at the unknown woman. "You'd fallen underneath the water in your sleep and I helped you out."

Elena gasped as she recalled in her dream she'd felt water run through her lungs and then all of a sudden there was peace. She'd been having strange dreams since being turned back to a human but they were never so realistic and never did she think they were influenced by real life occurrences. During her revelation, she forgot about the strange woman in her room and began to slide back on the bed. "What are you doing here? Look, we have money and foods… take whatever you want."

The woman chuckled and for the first time, Elena noticed how familiar she looked, with her black slate hair and eyes as blue as the sea. "I don't want material things from you honey."

"Then what do you want?" Elena asked curiously, though the undertone of her voice spelled out fear to the nth degree. "Are you going to kill me?"

The black haired woman shook her head just once and then Elena heard the door downstairs open and close. "Elena?" Stefan called from downstairs. "Are you awake?"

When Elena turned back, the woman was gone. "Ye-yeah." Elena said, a little startled at what she'd just seen… or thought she had seen at least. "I'm up."

She heard Stefan's footsteps up the stairs and then turned to see him walk into the room, a soft smile on his face. "Hey, did I wake you?" He asked as he moved closer and sat on the edge of the bed by her feet, which were curled undeniably close to her body.

Elena shook her head and kneeled closer to him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. While she hugged him, she found herself looking at the corner of the room and frowning. Who had been that woman? Burying her face in Stefan's neck, she fought all the thoughts that told her she was going crazy. "I was up; I'd just woken up actually." She said into his neck as she threw her leg over his lap and straddled him lightly.

Stefan kissed her shoulder and hugged her close to him, nodding. "Good; I snuck away from work for the rest of the day so I could spend it with you."

Elena giggled as she pulled away and raised one of her eyebrows as she cupped his face. "Don't you get enough time with me in the day?" She asked as she caressed his cheek.

He leaned up so their lips were almost touching. "There's never enough time in the day to spend with you." He said simply and closed the space between them.

Elena smiled against his lips as she moved her hands back and through his hair as the kiss deepened. Kissing Stefan still gave her butterflies after all this time and it was a bit childish to admit that years and years of doing this still gave her the same feelings it did when she was a teenage human. And as much as she couldn't get the woman that'd been sitting on the window sill in their bedroom out of her mind, she let herself enjoy the moment.

Stefan pulled away first for breath, which happened very rarely. Even though he was now human, he still had the incredible gift of being able to hold his breath for long periods of time during their make-out sessions. But it didn't take Elena long to plant her mouth against his and grind against his lower regions.

It also didn't take long for the uncontrollable need to throw up appeared and Elena rushed toward the bathroom, leaving Stefan to sit there for a long moment, trying to decipher what happened.

Elena, meanwhile, fought with the toilet seat cover and eventually won; just in time for her breakfast that morning to be found floating in the toilet water. She coughed as she pulled back, wrapping her arms around herself. One of the downsides of humanity was the fact that being sick was a regular occurrence and always meant laying in bed for days with Stefan until he got sick and then she'd still lay with him.

Stefan appeared in the doorway just as another round of vomit came to the playing field and wrapped his hand around the middle of her hair, holding it back for her. The smell of her vomit made her vomit more, which was ridiculous and a vicious cycle. So reaching up, she sent the rest of it down the toilet and leaned back into Stefan until the next round showed up and she was back over the toilet again.

Elena whined as she pulled back, hand on her stomach as she leaned back into Stefan, face buried in his chest. "Guess you'll be spending the rest of the day with a sick me." She murmured and he chuckled, reaching over and flushing the toilet again and then closing the top as the smell was driving him near vomiting as well.

"Well I'd rather have sick you then Bill from the office." He murmured, kissing her forehead. "Come up, we can get your teeth brushed and get you comfortable and I'll take care of you for the rest of the day."

Elena smiled at his first comment and nodded, pulling away from him slightly to stand up. "I'd like that." She said as he stood up beside her and waited nearby as she scrubbed the taste out of her mouth, mostly out of fear that it would happen again and she'd be alone.

She followed him out of the room where he sent her immediately into their closet to get dressed while he went downstairs and prepared dry toast and ginger ale, a meal she might as well get used to eating for the next couple of days.

As she walked out into the room, the woman was there again and she looked up with a slight smile on her face. "Feeling good?" She asked nonchalantly.

"Who are you?" Elena asked softly, though she wanted to shout it. "Where did you go when my husband came?"

The woman shook her head and folded her hands in front of her. "I know you have a lot of questions, dear. But you'll know them in dear time. And who I am? It doesn't matter."

Elena felt her eyes close and when she opened them only a mere millisecond after, the woman was gone again and she was left feeling a little crazy.

**XOXO**

Somewhere after Stefan's sick dinner (as he called it) Elena fell asleep against his chest, curled up underneath all their blankets while he laid on top, not half as cold in their bedroom as she was. When she woke, though, she could hear Stefan downstairs moving around and she waited for the feeling she'd had earlier to return, as it normally would have with a flu virus in her system but it didn't. Frankly, she was hungry… for chocolate ice cream. She wondered if they had any in the house.

Moving out of bed, she walked downstairs and into the kitchen, catching Stefan's curious look as she entered the room and made a beeline for the refrigerator. When she opened it and found only butterscotch in the refrigerator, she turned and narrowed her eyes. "Stefan! Where is the chocolate ice cream?"

Her husband walked into the room and frowned. "'Lena," he said softly, eyebrows rose. "You hate chocolate ice cream. I can't remember the reason, something about you eating too-"

Elena crossed her arms over her chest. "I want chocolate ice cream." She said stubbornly. "Now."

Stefan had never truly seen his wife as angry as she was because of the non-existence of chocolate ice cream in their refrigerator. Why she wanted the ice cream anyway was another discussion for another time because instead of fighting with her about her obvious distaste for the food, he grabbed his wallet and keys and walked out the front door.

Elena sat down at the island until he returned with the pint of chocolate ice cream. She stood up only to grab a spoon and then dug into it after a quick thank you. Stefan watched her, incredulous as she demolished the whole thing in only a matter of minutes and licked her lips. "That was good." She grinned at him and proceeded to get up and throw away the pint and then deposit the spoon in the dishwasher.

Stefan sat back, narrowing his eyes. Elena would rather burn herself alive, normally, than eat chocolate ice cream so to see his wife eat a full pint without complaining was quite a shock.

Elena sat back down at the island as he walked over and sat down beside her, still slightly in shock of what he'd just witnessed. "Feeling better? He asked as he laid his hand on her knee. Elena nodded and smiled, getting up to sit in his lap.

She looked down at him and grinned softly. "Let's go upstairs, Mr. Salvatore." She said as she ran her fingers through his hair. "Finish what we started earlier."

Stefan could only grin and lift her off him to the stairs and then their bedroom, where they finished what they had started earlier more than once.

**XOXO**

Stefan woke a few hours later to see his wife still asleep in the bed beside him. He was glad she was feeling better, but he still questioned that bout of sickness that had hit and then the eating of chocolate ice cream. Sitting up slowly from the bed, he dressed and left a note on his pillow that he'd be back in a few hours.

He drove to the boarding house, where his brother still lived with the young witch, Bonnie. He wasn't too sure how that had happened but again, he knew better to question the way love worked because if it hadn't, he certainly wouldn't have been with Elena right now. Getting out of his car, he walked up to the door and let himself in. "Hey." He called out. "Anyone home?"

Damon walked out from the dining room only after a few moments and smirked at his younger brother. "Stefan. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Bonnie followed him out a few seconds later with a smile on her face. "Hey Stefan, what's up?"

Stefan frowned softly and crossed his arms. "Elena just consumed a pint of chocolate ice cream."

Bonnie's face screwed up and she laughed. "You're kidding right? Elena hates chocolate ice cream."

He nodded to her response, chuckling. "Yeah, I know. That's what's odd about this whole scenario. She woke up and was up for only a few minutes before she was down at the refrigerator complaining that we didn't have any chocolate ice cream, but it never seemed to be a problem beforehand."

Damon chuckled at his brother. "Girls change their mind all the time; Bonnie takes a half an hour to get dressed every morning because she goes through her closet three times." Bonnie smacked his arm and rolled her eyes.

"That's not the point, Damon. " She said softly, not as harsh as she once would have said it, though; Stefan noticed that.

"Well what is the point because to me it seems like she wanted ice cream and my brother is making a big deal about it." Damon said as he moved away from the conversation with a roll of his eyes.

Bonnie sighed and moved closer to Stefan, but not apologizing for Damon's actions, which he felt was somewhat good because his brother didn't need someone to apologize for everything that he did on a regular basis. "Has she been… acting weird lately?" She asks, approaching the subject carefully.

"You mean besides the ice cream incident?" Stefan asked, shaking his head. "No. She woke up after I came home and she got sick but then she was okay later. I figure it was just something she ate that wasn't agreeing with her."

Bonnie stopped at that. "Stefan." She said with a weird tone, which caused Stefan to straighten up and stare at her. "Is there a chance she's pregnant?"

**XOXO**

Ah so I told you it would be going in a different direction ;) Most of you called the pregnancy because of my tumblr but who's the woman who Elena keeps seeing? Stay tuned and see! xo!


	3. Watching you always, mon cheri

So no one really has guessed who the woman is. Shame! Well anyone, enjoy the update. I'll try to update again soon.

**XOXO**

Just how does one process the possibility of a pregnancy? Stefan never thought he'd ever really have to sit down and process it at all. As a human, he'd thought very briefly of a future with Katherine but once she'd selfishly given them both blood which in turn caused them to turn into vampires, all those wishes and thoughts were gone. He didn't allow himself to think any further about white picket fences with dogs in the front yard and children playing alongside of them.

However, returning from his brother's house that evening, he had to remind himself that it could all just be a sick dream. Men like him weren't granted the gift of being the cause to another life. Not human at least.

As he entered the front door, closing it behind him, he briefly looked around, searching for any signs of life in the downstairs region before he moved upstairs. Elena sat on the bed, the remote controller in hand alongside of a big glass of chocolate milk in the other while she flipped through the channels. She looked up briefly to great him with a smile and then went back to her own world.

He didn't want to jinx anything by bringing up what Bonnie had explained to him, but he'd sworn only a few months ago to be completely honest with his wife and damn him to hell if he was going to break that promise already. However, when he walked in the room later that evening to see Elena asleep, rather than wake her up, he opted to wait a few hours. Morning would come faster than he could even think.

He woke again only moments after, but this time he wasn't in the small cottage that he and Elena owned. It took him a moment before he remembered where he was: his childhood home. "There you are, mon cheri." He heard and he turned his head in the direction of the voice, happy to see his mother. It'd been well over a century and a half since he'd last seen her face, but he still remembered everything about her. "Good morning my baby," she cooed as she walked across the room and lifted him up into her arms.

As he dangled in his mother's arms, Stefan realized just how small he was. His mother, Elle, moved toward the window seat and sat with him still in her arms. "Mama," Stefan cooed, reaching up to grasp at her. It felt too real and as he realized that, he heard footsteps behind him and turned to see his brother... but a much younger version of his brother.

"Hey Stef," he said as he sat down beside his mother and ruffled the young boy's hair. "Bonjour, Maman." He greeted his mother then, kissing her cheek.

His mom smiled in Damon's direction and reached up to cup his cheek. It was an intimate gesture, one that she always shared with her sons. He was reminded of the very first time he'd ever gone outside without her and he'd fallen down and hurt himself in that moment though he didn't know why it had come up all of a sudden.

Stefan lifted his head up to look at his mother. She still looked the same as the day he'd seen her in the coffin and he could hardly believe that after all this time he was thinking of her, and dreaming of her. "I love you, my sons." He heard her say as she reached around Damon and brought him close to her as well. "I'll be watching you always."

When Stefan woke up, he was in a pool of sweat. It'd been so long since he'd seen those eyes; Damon's were alike to them but they weren't the same. His mother's eyes were... indescribable. Though, he didn't quite understand why he'd dreamt of her.

Elle Salvatore was the epitome of perfection in her time, a French beauty who knew little English but loved all the same. She loved passionately with her whole heart and nothing less. When she died, Stefan had just turned four. He didn't quite understand at the time what death was, but all the same he understood when his father told him Mama wasn't returning home from a trip to the market.

He looked over at Elena at that thought, remembering his conversation with Bonnie from the day before, only to find her still asleep. Peeling himself off the sheets, he moved into the bathroom and took a shower. Elena's eyes fluttered open as he walked into the room.

"Mhm..." she giggled as he dried his hair with a towel, another towel low on his hips. "Is this what I get to wake up to for the rest of my life?" She teased and sat up slowly. In her sleep, her tank top's spaghetti straps had fallen down, leaving nothing to the imagination.

Stefan shrugged as he opened up his dresser drawer and pulled out a pair of boxers. "I suppose if you want to, then yes." He teased and she giggled again, not bothering to fix her top this time. "How was your sleep?"

Elena stretched out and yawned softly. "I slept like a baby. Stupid bug has me worn out." At that, Stefan frowned softly, though she couldn't see it. He wasn't sure if she even thought of the possibility herself; had Bonnie not brought it up, it wouldn't be a nagging thought in the back of his mind. If he didn't love his sister in law, he'd hate her for implanting even so much as the thought of Elena being pregnant in his mind.

"I heard you talked to Bonnie." Elena said softly, which caused him to turn around quickly and nearly lose his footing. "Did she tell you the same thing I told her or can I trust to tell her a secret again?"

Stefan froze in space as he heard Elena's words. A million things ran through his mind but not one of them was a coherent thought. "I'm going to take that as a yes." Elena sighed as she stood up, finally fixing the strap. She may have woken up with a sexy attitude but the conversation he feared they were about to have was the furthest from.

"So... in that case, how would you feel if it came to be true?" Elena said as she manoeuvred toward him. "I mean, I'm elated. We were talking and she kind of hinted to it and the only thing I could do was hope that maybe there was a chance it was true." She took a deep breath as she spoke, like the topic was taking all of the air out of her lungs. It was taking all the air out of his.

"So we're on the same page here..." he said after a few seconds. "What are you talking about?"

Elena raised her eyebrow for a second before turning and disappearing into the bathroom, leaving Stefan a little bit more than confused. When she returned, she stood closer to him and showed him the white stick. "I was talking about this."

Stefan took the stick out of her hands and nodded. "Me too," he said, though his mouth felt a little bit more dry than before. All of a sudden, he was scared... confused but he was... happy? "Though it was only brought up as a possibility to me as of yesterday."

Elena sighed as she took the stick back and laid it on the dresser before she took his hands in hers, guiding him to the bed. She sat down and tugged him down beside her. "Tell me how you feel, please."

Stefan wasn't sure where to start. At first, it was a thought, something not really a possibility but more of a wish. But now it was reality and the only thing he could do was stare at her stomach and remind himself that there was a part of him inside of there. The fear left him and he reached over, brushing his fingertips across her stomach. "I remember the feeling I had when the possibility was brought up. I was shocked, and happy. And now, I'm the same. I never thought that this would happen. Even when the cure was brought up, and having children with Elena was a possible option, it seemed like a long, far away dream. They'd been human for two years now and with nothing happening, he almost wondered if it was all just a joke.

"It was never a possibility for us." Elena said softly, reaching to cup his cheek in her hand. "But now it is. We should embrace it, not take it for granted." She smiled when Stefan did, nodding in agreement and then again as he closed the space between them and lowered his lips on hers.

She was right; taking a gift like that would be foolish. So instead of thinking of the future, he laid his wife back in bed and made love to her.

**XOXO**

Caroline and Bonnie weren't all that surprised when Elena had told them via a three way call that she thought she was pregnant. It didn't mean they were any less happy for their friends at all though. Or that Caroline had any other plans but to spoil the baby.

That morning Caroline picked up Bonnie from the Salvatore boarding house and drove toward the Salvatore house where Elena awaited them. The three of them had planned to meet up once Elena and Stefan talked. Half because they were curious as to what happened and half because they wanted to see their friend; it was mostly their curiosity that drove them there so quickly.

Elena greeted them at the door and led them into the living room where the three of them sat while Caroline looked at Elena anxiously and Bonnie kept looking at Caroline, silently telling her to calm down.

"What the hell happened?" Caroline said, completely out of patience by now. "Did he freak?"

"Caroline!" Bonnie scolded, which caused the vampire to lower her head slightly and apologize, but Elena just laughed at them both. Bonnie figured that she wasn't in that bad of a mood, so something should have gone right.

"Its fine, Caroline," Elena assured her and placed her hand subconsciously on her stomach. Caroline noticed it first and thought about pointing it out, but she supposed that she would have to get used to it. It would be weird seeing Elena in anything but a size four. Even when they were younger, Elena was always the thinnest and frankly the prettiest. A part of Caroline long buried thrived in the fact that her best friend would get fat. But she felt horrible for thinking like that and inwardly scolded herself.

"But what exactly did... well, happen?" Bonnie tried cautiously. Elena loved her for that; while Caroline was full of energy, Bonnie was cautious. The three of them evened each other out perfectly.

Elena kicked her feet up on the coffee table and smiled at the memory of the morning before he'd gone to work. While she'd leave a lot of it out for the sake of her friends, it didn't mean she was going to forget it. "I asked him if Bonnie had told him what I told her and he never said anything, so I assumed."

Bonnie's lips formed a thin line. "I didn't exactly tell him. I asked if it was a possibility."

Elena rolled her eyes and chuckled, but never said anything in response to Bonnie. She wasn't mad at her by any means, but it didn't mean she appreciated her best friend hinting toward her pregnancy before she had the chance to tell her husband herself. "And well, I showed him the test and we talked about it." She shrugged, "it wasn't the notebook; sorry, Care."

Caroline, whose favourite movie since it had come out, was The Notebook, pouted a little. She lived for the thrill in life, for the overdramatic situation of everything she was involved in. But all the same, hearing that Stefan had reacted well to Elena's news was good. Anti-climatic, but good.

"Are either of you two hungry? I feel like I could eat a horse. Not that I would... my cravings aren't that morbid." Elena rambled on before Bonnie stood up and extended her hand to her and Elena took the hint, grabbing it and hoisting herself up. Caroline followed behind them and together, they drove to the Grille where they ordered lunch, talked about their significant others and ate Chocolate cake until they swore they could never eat anymore.

Elena ended up eating another slice before they left, which caused Caroline to tease her and Bonnie to flat out tell Caroline to shut up.

**XOXO**

Elena returned home just in time to catch Stefan at the door. She greeted him with a kiss and together the two of them moved into the room. Earlier, he'd had to leave and go to work so they hadn't had a lot of time to talk, but now they had the whole night and Elena planned on using every last second. They still had a lot to talk about.

Sitting down on the couch, Elena turned on the tv. "I have to go take a shower," Stefan said softly as he bent down and kissed her temple. Elena tilted her head back in his direction and nodded slightly, watching as he walked up the stairs before titling her head back down and flipping through the channels.

She caught herself stopping at a channel that featured a woman's encounter of her pregnancy. Elena knew where babies came from and knew how they came about, but when she'd decided to live with Stefan forever, babies that came from her belly were never an option so she never thought anything about it. Most women went to their Moms for this kind of advice. Unfortunately for Elena, she no longer had that option so the baby show would have to suffice.

Stefan walked down the stairs just as the woman featured on the screen's vagina was in the forefront and the baby's head was coming out. He could hear Elena's cringing even before he was near her and when he sat down next to her, he changed the channel and turned his head in Elena's direction. She was still cringing at the screen. "That child just tor-" she started by Stefan placed his hand over her mouth and stopped her mid-sentence.

"You're going to freak yourself out if you watch that kind of stuff." He said softly and Elena nodded as Stefan pulled his hand away and then suddenly she was in his arms, head buried into his chest. After recovering, she wrapped her arms around him as well and leaned into him. This is where Elena was home.

"I set up an appointment with Meredith." She murmured against his chest, feeling his head nod against hers.

"When is the appointment?" Stefan asked as he pulled back and looked down at her.

Elena tilted her head up slightly, hands gripping onto his shirt. "Tomorrow morning was the quickest she could sneak us in. Technically she's doing us a favour."

He chuckled at that, thinking of Meredith's obvious distaste for him. "It's all a bunch of technicalities." He joked and kissed her cheek, laughing as Elena whined and punched hi s chest softly. While she and Meredith got along quite well, for some reason the Doctor didn't want anything to do with him. He didn't fret over it, though. He couldn't care less whether or not someone liked him.

Elena pulled back and pushed him against the back of the couch, snuggling into him. "Are we really going to cuddle and watch the godfather?" Stefan asked as he noticed what was on the screen.

She giggled softly and picked up the remote and handed it to him, allowing him to skip through the channels until he found something more appropriate: When Harry Met Sally.

He hated chick flicks but if it meant cuddling with Elena until they both fell asleep, then he'd sit through them.

He'd never admit that to Elena, though.

After the movie ended, she was asleep. He could feel her soft breathing against his chest and while he didn't want to move her, he knew she'd wake up tomorrow with a bad back and not be able to stop complaining about it, so he moved and lifted her into his arms, shutting off the remaining lights downstairs before he walked upstairs with his sleeping wife.

Elena didn't stir until he placed her down on the bed and then she woke up long enough to discard her clothing. Stefan walked into the bathroom just as she was dozing off again with her clothes in hand and deposited them into the laundry basket. When he came back, Elena was still somewhat conscious. "I love you," he whispered and closed his eyes, kissing the back of her neck.

Elena smiled and leaned back into her husband's arms, glad that they had made it this far together. But then, she found herself looking over toward the window seat and seeing the same ocean blue eyes she'd seen yesterday and all of a sudden, she wasn't tired any more.

She remembered those eyes, filled with passion and meaning; they haunted her dreams that night, leaving her unable to think of anything else. Who the woman was, she would never know. But she needed to find closure with the image that kept appearing to her. If not, she was sure to go crazy.


	4. The penis started it

_**WEEK 7, DAY 2**_

The maternity ward of the hospital today was filled. Even though they wouldn't be seeing a pediatrician, Meredith had asked for them to wait there until she was done with her patients. Sneaking them in was typically unfair to the rest of the women and fathers who'd been waiting, but Meredith didn't seem to have a problem with it so neither would Elena.

Elena found herself looking around the room expectantly, staring at some of the heavily pregnant women whose arms were wrapped around their bumps protectively. It was natural instinct, she supposed, but looking at it now made her feel uncomfortable and strange. She'd be like those women in only a few short months.

There were also women with tiny babies, clutching them tight to their chest while they spoke to them in soft voices. Young women staring down at their hands while contemplating something or another. The room was filled with many emotions. Sad, happy, elated, and confused and Elena was overwhelmed by the amount of emotion that surrounded her.

She felt Stefan's hand reach over and grab hers tightly, as though he knew what she was thinking and feeling and knew that she needed the utmost amount of comfort a woman could possibly get in that moment. Of course, Stefan knew her a lot better than either of them would actually even be able to measure.

"I love you," he whispered softly, bringing her knuckles up to his lips. Elena smiled in his direction and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"I love you too." She said softly, squeezing his hand.

They settled back into the comfortable silence, just the two of them sitting together and relaxing. It wasn't uncomfortable or unusual. Elena was glad she had someone who understood her enough and shared the silence with her instead of making it seem awkward.

Meredith didn't come until twenty minutes after their scheduled time, but when she did; she immediately shook both of their hands and led them back to the area where Elena had seen some women escape before. She could almost feel the eyes on her back, but she tried to ignore the burning feeling of eyes.

Meredith sat them down in an observation room and instructed Elena to sit back and relax. "I understand that you've recently learned that the cure worked a little bit better than either of you anticipated." She said once everyone was settled which caused Elena to laugh silently.

"I guess so." She said softly, glancing at Stefan who shared a tiny smile with her and then turned his attention back to Meredith. The two may not get along, but it was Stefan's nature to respect people, even if he did not necessarily want to tolerate them.

"Well in that case, I guess we should start by looking at the baby so I can determine such information as the estimated due date, how far along you are, and then give you your prescriptions and that should be about it."

Elena smiled in her direction and nodded, sitting quietly beside Stefan as Meredith instructed her to pull up her shirt and then she spread the cold gel across her stomach. It made her jump slightly at the first contact, but she forced herself to calm down. The last thing she needed was to cause Stefan to worry any more than he already was.

In the movies, pregnancy seemed so easy. The movies didn't show the incredible amount of detail that went into pregnancy. There was always a much more "interesting" plot in comparison to morning sickness all day every day and swelling parts of the body.

But there was one thing the movies didn't show or were able to show: the feeling of listening to your child's heartbeat for the first time. When it came through, Elena felt her own heart skip a beat. It was different now; years ago when she'd first decided that she wanted to be with Stefan for as long as she possibly could, she'd given up on the idea of children.

Now, in front of her, in fuzzy black and white was their baby. She felt Stefan's hand clutch hers tightly and then she half-heard what Meredith was saying, explaining to them both just how far along she was (she thought she heard seven weeks, but she'd have to ask again later when her baby wasn't in front of her and reality was crashing down.)

When they left the hospital – after Meredith had confirmed seven weeks – Elena was not on earth any more. The sick feeling in her stomach now, and the next few months where she would endure everything to the utmost extremities, it was all worth it she decided. She climbed in the car as he held the door open for her and found her eyes staring down at her flat stomach. There was a baby in there; tiny and small and not yet ready to meet the world, but there was one in there.

Elena suddenly couldn't breathe. In all the time that she'd had since she found out she was pregnant, she'd never quite thought of it that way. She was going to have a baby; there was going to be someone who was going to rely on her for the next eighteen years and count on her for the rest of their life.

She broke out of her thoughts upon feeling Stefan's hand reach over and grasp her shoulder, gently shaking her. Turning her head toward him, she noticed the worry on his face and frowned softly. "What's wrong?" He asked and heard her exhale a deep breath and wondered how long it'd been since she had inhaled it. She was freaking out; he knew her well enough to detect that.

"I just…" Elena's voice cut out almost immediately after she begin speaking and it was only then that she realized that they were still in the parking lot of the hospital. "Remember when I said we shouldn't take this for granted?" She said and he nodded softly, careful not to interrupt her when she was in panic mode. She needed to get it all out. "Well I'm trying so hard not to do that because let's face it, this baby… she's a miracle. But I'm also freaking out because I'm not sure I can handle bringing someone into this world with so much shit still going on in it."

Stefan had reached over and cupped her cheek halfway through her rant and was now caressing her cheek as she spoke. "You're waiting for something bad to happen." He exclaimed softly, which caused her to sigh and nod her head.

"It's not like we have an incredible record for good things happening…" she trailed off and sighed softly. "I'm sorry, we just saw our baby. We should be happy, elated, not talking about things that may or may not go wrong."

Stefan leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead gently. "I want you to tell me these things, Elena. I need to hear these things." He lowered his lips and began to kiss down her cheek until he reached her ear. "And for the record, you'll be an incredible mother."

Elena didn't have the heart to disagree with him – she knew he would argue until he won anyway.

**XOXO**

_**WEEK TWENTY, DAY SIX**_

Three months had passed since then and three months had also passed since Elena had last seen the raven-haired woman in their room. She was beginning to think she'd gone crazy in that time and was now grasping at the straws for her sanity.

Standing in the closet, she pulled her top over her growing belly and frowned when it stopped sort suddenly, leaving nearly half of her stomach uncovered. "What?" She asked, frowning. She pulled the shirt off and inspected it; she'd just worn it a couple weeks ago just fine and now it was too short? When did this happen?

Tossing it to the side, she reached in and grabbed another t-shirt, pulling it on; but then one t-shirt became two and then suddenly her whole closet was around her and nothing she owned fit her any more. Well, besides an oversized sweatshirt that said "I love Florida" very faintly from her father's Sister in Florida. She collapsed to the floor and looked around at the mess she'd made just as the door downstairs opened.

Stefan came home for lunch as usual; even when he couldn't afford the time, he'd be home anyway to make sure Elena ate and at least make sure her day was going somewhat good so far. However, as he entered the room and realized his wife was nowhere to be found, he was instantly worried. "Elena?" He called out, raising his voice in order for it to carry through the house, where he hoped she would respond.

All he heard was the sound of a strangled sob.

He knew something was instantly not right so, dumping his coat on the back of a chair, he moved toward the staircase and went upstairs. Elena looked up at him with her bright red eyes, sitting in a pile of clothes with only his favourite red bra on and she pressed her lips together to keep from sobbing. "I don't fit into anything anymore." She said softly, holding up an ugly yellow t-shirt. "Even this," she sobbed. "A medium - is tight on me."

Stefan didn't know how to react to this: he'd been through a lot in his days; witches, hybrids, vampires who were against Elena's very existence, but in all those days he never thought about having to deal with a very hormonal, pregnant Elena whose temper shot off like a firecracker when he said the wrong way. If he offered her his credit card to go buy new clothes, she'd think he was calling her fat. But if he didn't offer her anything, then she'd think he was being insensitive and call him a bunch of obscenities. With Elena lately, nothing he could do would ever make it okay to exist around her.

"Oh honey," he sighed sadly as he moved across the room, kneeling down beside her. "You're...you're supposed to get bigger; it's the baby growing." He tried, hoping that bringing their unborn child into the mix would help.

It didn't. "Not that bullshit again," she whimpered softly and began grabbing some of the t-shirts around her. "It's all for the baby. I get fat and can't fit into any of my clothes and it's all the baby's fault!" She threw a shirt at him. "You know what Stefan? This baby wouldn't be here if it weren't for your god damn penis!"

There were times lately when he had to take his time out and let her calm down, but he knew he only had a limited time with her before an afternoon of meetings so instead of worrying about her biting back at him, he began to clean up the t-shirts and some jeans that were strewn around the room and then helped her up, grabbing her favourite t-shirt of his and helping her into it. All through, listening to her complain that he wasn't letting her be independent and then using some words he'd never thought he'd hear Elena say.

He helped her down the hall and sat her down at the island and then moved around to face her. "What do you want for lunch?" He asks, completely ignoring the 'buggar' comment that had come out of her lips a couple of moments later. Since finding out she was pregnant, Elena had adapted a new personality: she was now a sailor and definitely swore like one.

"Do we have any more of that cake you brought home yesterday?" She asked, as though the episode she'd just had hadn't happened, which he was more than glad to agree upon.

"I don't think so." He said, biting the inside of his cheek as he spoke. "But if you want, we could go out for lunch to the place where I initially bought the cake?"

Elena nodded after a little while of thinking. "You can drop me off at Caroline's or something rather than drive all the way back here afterwards, though."

Stefan nodded and then straightened up before they both walked toward the door and then toward the small cafe just around the corner from Stefan's office. Things were good, for now and they were both glad for that. Stefan would always love Elena, but that didn't mean her hormonal side didn't scare him.

**XOXO**

Once lunch was finished, Elena texted Caroline and asked if it was okay for her to stop by, which of course it was. Stefan left her with both his bank and credit card in the event that Caroline talked her into shopping – which she could only imagine would happen once her friend found out about the lack of fitting clothes in her closet – and then went back to work, leaving her in the comforting hands of her best friend, Caroline Forbes.

Caroline greeted her at the door with a tight hug that left her breathless. "It's only been like a day, Care." Elena said once they pulled away."You don't have to suffocate me every time you see me."

"But every time I see you, you're a little bit bigger!" Caroline exclaimed, hands immediately reaching to grasp Elena's belly. "And cuter I might add. Aw, you have got to be the cutest pregnant person I've ever met."

Elena got used to Caroline's coddling. Her best friend was the furthest from oblivious when it came to her feelings about Elena's pregnancy and while she respected her being so supportive of the new step in her life, it didn't mean it wasn't the slightest bit... well, annoying.

"Is that Stefan's shirt?" Caroline asked after a few moments of silence, her eyes narrowed in the way that Elena knew to be scrutinizing. "Why are you wearing Stefan's shirt? Please tell me that you didn't hook up before you came here and you just grabbed the first thing you saw?"

Elena rolled her eyes. "Before we get to that long conversation, can I come in and sit? I can't stand for long periods of time anymore."

Caroline immediately apologized and stepped to the side, watching Elena as she walked in. She didn't necessarily want to baby her best friend; that was the last thing she needed (as Stefan had lightly explained it after Caroline had unintentionally made Elena cry by one of her comments.) They walked over to the couch and sat down beside each other, the brunette sighed softly, relaxing. She'd only been standing for a brief amount of time, but it didn't make it any less relaxing to be sitting down again.

"So why exactly are you wearing Stefan's shirt?" Caroline asked, narrowing her eyes at the shirt. "Skip the sex part; I don't need the graphic details of your sex life."

Elena rolled her eyes. "It's not as dirty as you think." She said softly, sighing as she rubbed her belly. "I don't fit into any of my clothes shirt wise. I have a few pairs of pants that still fit but that's about it." She frowned as she remembered all of her favourite clothes and how it would be a long, long time before she'd be able to wear anything else.

"Nothing?" Caroline's eyes gaped open and then she remembered she should be more compassionate which didn't make much sense as to why she was thinking that way. She was one of the most compassionate people she knew. "Wow, 'Lena. That's brutal. So does that mean you have to go shopping for more?"

Elena laughed softly and shook her head in Caroline's direction. Of course her best friend always found the silver lining to any situation. "Yes. I think Stefan knew this conversation was going to happen too."

Caroline frowned and narrowed her eyes. "Why do you say that?"

Elena leaned forward and pulled the cards he'd given her out of her pocket, showing them to Caroline. "He gave me these before he kissed me goodbye."

The blond laughed softly and jumped up. "Well, come on! The malls only opened up for another six hours. If we don't go now we won't have enough time!"

**XOXO**

By the time Elena and Caroline were finished with their shopping, Elena's feet hurt so bad she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to walk again. She was carrying double her body weight in bags and swore she was going to fall apart. She managed to lug them to Caroline's car, though and then listened to Stefan exclaim that she shouldn't be carrying around that much weight so early in her pregnancy. It wasn't good for her.

That night, as Elena sat on the bed, moisturizing, Stefan walked in from the bathroom and dumped his clothes into the hamper on the way to the bed. He crawled underneath the covers and sat back against his pillows, watching her carefully.

"And you say I'm the one with a staring problem?" Elena teased as she looked over at him, a small smile across her face. He stuck his tongue out at her which made her laugh and then put the lotion on the side table before lying back in the bed. "How was your day?" She asked as curled into her pillow.

Stefan moved closer to her on the bed and wrapped his arms around her. "It's much better now." He said, leaning over and kissing her softly. He could feel her lips turn up into a smile.

"You're so corny." She mumbled as he pulled away and he laughed, leaning his forehead against hers. "Cornier than the corniest," she added, staring into his eyes.

Stefan rolled his eyes and rubbed her back gently. "You love me."

"Don't tell me what I do or do not feel." She retorted, causing him to laugh once again and then pull her against his chest.

"Wanna know a secret?" He asked, leaning his lips close to her ear as she nodded her head slightly. "I love you too."

**XOXO**

Silly me, it's not Stefan who's corny! It's me. I hope you guys enjoyed this update, I've been working avidly for the last hour in hopes that it would get posted before my very long week.  
Just a question though - boy or girl?  
I hope to update soon. Xo, Leighton.


	5. The World spins madly on

It was Elena's prompt that got them into this conversation and now they were both staring at the other curiously, wondering who was going to start it next.

"Stefan..." Elena drew out with a pout. "Aren't you the least bit curious? I mean, at all?" She continued to prompt, but his perseverance was something to admire.

"Nope," he said, popping the 'p' for added effect. "Not curious at all."

Elena rolled her eyes in his direction, which caused him to grin and laugh. He sat on the edge of the bed as she dressed for their doctor's appointment. While most of them were pretty regular, they'd missed their twenty week appointment the week before because of a freak snow storm that had occurred. She had cussed the April weather out quite frequently that day. But now, a week later, it was their twenty-one week check up and Elena's curiosity was getting the best of her.

"Liar," she said as she stuck out her tongue and shrugged on her shirt, pushing it over her belly tentatively as she stared down at it, running her hand over the surface. It was still hard to believe that there was a human being in there; frankly there were times when she'd forget she was pregnant and then she'd feel her child move inside of her and it would all come to reality for her.

Stefan looked offended at her comment. "I do not lie." He said as he stood up and caressed her belly with her. "We said we were going to keep it a surprise, so we're going to keep it a surprise."

If she didn't love him so much, she probably would have killed him in that moment. Yes, she and Stefan had talked about genders at the beginning of her pregnancy and yes they had agreed to not know the sex until the baby was born. But Elena wanted to know; she wanted to caress her stomach and call her baby by a name – either suited for male or female – and do all the stuff she was sure other people did.

"Baby wants Mommy and Daddy to know what it is though." She giggled as she spoke, feeling silly even after all this time. And as though it was on cue, the baby kicked the inside of her stomach, which caused her to wince slightly.

The kicking was particularly new to her; it'd only started about two weeks before.

She and Stefan had been watching The Avengers while she stuffed her face with chocolate ice cream covered in butterscotch topping and marshmallow puff. Stefan called her meal heart attack in a bowl; she called it a snack.

Halfway through a spoonful, she felt a little flutter against the inside of her belly. It was normal; she'd gotten used to the baby moving around inside of her – and it was constantly moving – so she never thought anything of it. She just kept on eating.

The flutter came only about ten minutes later, but this time it was a bit stronger and it almost felt like the baby had... "Oh my god," she said with a mouth full of the mixture. "Stefan!" She tried to swallow some of the stuff in her mouth so she could talk properly but found it instantly harder to swallow and gestured to her belly while she chewed.

Stefan looked at her like she was insane. "Are you still hungry?" He asked with his eyebrows raised but she shook her head and tried to talk again. "Babe, chew your food. You're going to choke."

Once Elena had swallowed it was only a moment before his hand was pressed against her belly with both of her hands covering over it. "Do you feel that?" He was about to ask what when he felt the strong kick against the palm of his hand and his mouth immediately formed a grin and he nodded.

"Hey baby." He said as he bent down and kissed her belly. "Good to know you're functioning well in there."

Elena smiled as she remembered that but was quickly dragged back into the future as she watched Stefan stand up and inform her that they had to get on their way before the waiting room became too crowded and Elena would have to stand.

She groaned, but followed behind him, only to hear his soft laughter. She knew he found it funny that she was giving into temptation but truthfully she wanted to know if they were going to have a son or daughter in their lives. And she just so happened to know a few ways to get him to agree with her.

**XOXO**

When they arrived at the maternity ward, Elena sat down in the first empty seat she could find and Stefan began to fill out the papers for their appointment. She looked around the room at the semi-familiar faces, catching a glance of a woman who had introduced herself as Geena one day when Elena had sat down next to her. It was Geena's third but when she heard that it was her first, she had wished her the best of luck.

Only a few moments passed before Stefan returned to her, standing in front of her. As predicted, the waiting room was filled to the brim so Stefan stood, but being the man she knew and loved, he had no plans of moving away from her until he absolutely needed to.

Their doctor's name was Dr. Harrison. She was a middle-aged feminist who talked about vaginas a lot but she was nice and related to their struggles about dealing with their first child so Elena decided to stick with her. They had gone through another doctor before her, but both of them liked to pretend that never happened.

But unfortunately, so many other people agreed with their views on Dr. Harrison; she had many patients to deal with and trying to get an appointment with her was brutal. Elena tried not to think too deeply about it, though, knowing the slight stress would probably cause a lot more in the long run.

"Elena Salvatore?" A young nurse called from behind the desk and Stefan held out his hands for her, lifting her up. Standing up was a new task for Elena lately, as she'd found easily that the more weight her upper body gained, the more she decided she'd rather sit for the rest of the pregnancy.

They followed the nurse into the room that prepped Elena for the exam and then after a few questions, left them alone. Stefan looked at Elena for a long time; he never thought he'd get over the look of her on the table. He also never thought he'd get over the idea of being a father, but feeling his child and knowing that he or she was there was an experience all to its own.

"Are you positive that you don't want to know?" Elena asked with those puppy dog eyes. They'd been the same puppy dog eyes that he'd seen for the past week when she woke up at three am with craving for chocolate cake and ice cream. No, he wasn't positive that he didn't want to know. Hell, he wanted to know just as badly as she did so even he wasn't sure why he was putting up such a front against the idea.

He sighed softly and she knew instantly that she had won. She knew Stefan like the back of her hand so therefore she really knew how to make him agree with her. "No, I want to know," he said finally, admitting defeat. Elena could only giggle before Dr. Harrison walked in and grinned at them both.

"How are you both doing today?" She asked while looking at them both. "Ready to see what's going on with baby?"

**XOXO**

Stefan walked out of the room in the daze. He knew he was holding Elena's hand because he felt the bones in between his fingers but he couldn't recognize anything else. He felt like he was floating through the hospital and when they finally got to the car, the both of them looked at each other and laughed.

"Did you guess correctly Mr. Salvatore?" She asked with a raise of her eyebrow.

"You'll have to guess, Mrs. Salvatore." He winked back and then settled back into the seat. He put his seat belt on and waited until she fiddled with hers before he started the car and began to drive out of the parking lot. They had both decided to keep mum on the sex until Caroline's party tonight where they were sure their friends would be asking more about the baby.

Most of their friends were now vampires, so the fact that one of them was actually creating new life was still a sort of new thing to them all. The only exception besides themselves was Damon and Bonnie, whose relationship was still in the 'what are we' stage so they knew not to expect anything from them for a long time.

Tonight Caroline's party was just another reason to get together. When they went to High School, they had dances that each one of them would show up to but now that they were considered adults, there was less time for them to spend together so every now and again, Miss Mystic Falls six years in a row would throw a new party and invite all of them just for the night.

The last time Caroline had a party, Elena was a size two and could fit into clothes that made her look sexy and while most everyone reminded her constantly that there was nothing sexier than pregnancy, she found it really hard to stand around her friends nowadays, especially since they were all thin as sticks. It was hard enough shopping with Caroline and watching her put on dresses she'd have to work to get back into after the baby was born.

When they got home, Stefan helped her out of the car and then they walked to their front door, walking inside. It was peaceful there and exactly what she needed after the news.

Stefan looked at her. "Do you want me to draw you a bath?" He asked, nearly reading her mind.

Elena grinned and nodded. "Only if you promise to bathe with me," she said seductively as she moved toward him. He leaned down and kissed her softly, then more passionately until he pulled away and then begun to walk up the stairs. Elena moved to follow him when she saw something out of the corner of her eye and turned quickly.

"Did you miss me?" The raven-haired woman said. "I haven't been around lately... I don't know why."

Elena groaned. She was about to have a nice bath with her sexy ass husband and she did not need to deal with that part of her mind going crazy. "I don't know who you are and I don't care who you are. Please leave me alone." And with that, she walked up the steps to meet with Stefan.

"Ah, precious Elena," she said softly as she watched her. "Little do you know how vital you are to me."

**XOXO**

Caroline's party would be out of this world that much Elena knew. So when she began looking through her clothes, she knew she would have to get something fancy in order to fit in. Of course, she could no longer fit into her size-two dresses which she preferred but that didn't mean that she wasn't going to have fun tonight. After her bath with Stefan – which had in turn lead to them making love and spilling water everywhere – she had needed a nap in order to recover and he had only just woke her up about a half an hour ago to inform her that it was about two hours until Caroline's party.

Elena didn't mind being pregnant out in public; she didn't feel shame because she was pregnant. She was a married woman and frankly what she and Stefan did in the bedroom was nobody's business but theirs but it seemed as though pregnancy just stated exactly what you'd done behind closed doors in a weird kind of way.

And then her baby would do something lie squirm inside of her or kick against her inside and all that worry would be gone. Wait, she began to correct herself mentally as she rubbed her stomach. _Their _baby.

Ultimately, she'd decided on wearing a simple blue dress that had a nice v-neck but didn't show off too much. It was just one of the many that Caroline had insisted on her buying when they'd shopped for the very first time after learning Elena could no longer fit into most of her clothes. At the time, Elena hadn't liked it, but the way it looked on her now was a sure fire way of making Stefan squirm for the rest of the evening.

Stefan emerged from the bathroom, towel drying his hair as he walked. She turned around and smiled softly at him, feeling the baby kick. It was like their child always knew when Daddy was in the room or even around them; they always reacted to his appearance though Elena didn't quite understand how they knew he'd come in.

Walking over to his closet, Stefan opened up the creaking door, picked out an outfit quickly and began to dress. Elena would take hours to get dressed now that she was more insecure about herself but he, on the other hand, only took a good fifteen minutes to go from towel boy to socially accepted man.

Turning his head in her direction, he watched her for a moment before walking over toward her and wrapping his arms around her softly. He felt the baby kick against his palm and kissed the inside part of her neck. "You smell good." He commented, hearing a breathy laugh emit from her lips. "Could eat you right up," he teased so more and soon she was giggling uncontrollably, belly bouncing with her.

He smiled as she leaned back into him and looked up, covering his hands over with hers. "You're so silly..." she said softly, which caused him to go down and pretend to begin to nibble at her nose which only caused her laughter to grow louder and then soon he was laughing. He couldn't help it; Elena's laughter was infectious.

**XOXO**

When they'd confirmed that Elena was pregnant, it felt as though something had changed between the duo... he couldn't quite explain it though which was the weirdest part of all. He'd always been protective of her and nothing had changed there and it was much the same with most everything about her. Nothing had changed, per se. It had magnified. He'd always loved her, but there was a different kind of love now too that they shared. She was the mother of his child and no matter what happened they'd always that connection.

Stefan Salvatore felt more connected to his wife now that she was pregnant, as though the baby was the missing piece between them even though he hadn't realized that there'd been anything missing in the first place. Arguably, they were the most patient couple with each other; even after nearly a decade of being together they still held hands and made out at movies, acting as though they were just teenagers most of the time. They were picture perfect, as Caroline had once described them. Now they were going to be a family.

Pulling up just outside of the door, Stefan moved around to help Elena out and get her inside before he'd park the car. Elena insisted that she'd be fine but found him on her side until Caroline took over, which she didn't particularly mind. She probably would have complained but the fact that he was being so sweet and so protective made up for it in her mind.

Caroline looped her arm with hers and they walked further into the room, greeted with smiles from most of their friends. Damon and Bonnie sat in the loveseat, her legs draped over his lap while Matt and Rebekah sat across from them, not nearly as close but she could still tell that the five years of vampirism that Matt had spent with her had meant something to them both. And then there was Klaus and Jeremy, who had formed an odd bond during the finding of the curse but she didn't necessarily question it.

Elena sighed as she thought about Jeremy. He was the last remaining alive family member that she had and they barely had time to spend together any more. He had school and she had the baby who constantly kept her up at night now that they knew kicking her would awaken her.

He got up and walked over, pulling her from Caroline's arms. "Sorry Care, you see my sister like every other day, I only get to see her every now and again." He smiled as he turned toward her and hugged her tightly. "Hey Elena," he whispered in her ear, kissing her cheek. They remained like that for a long moment and Elena sighed as they finally pulled away, sad that it was over but glad he was there.

"I'm starting to forget what you look like considering how much time we spend apart Baby Bro," she giggled, reaching up and messing up his hair, which she was sure had taken him quite a while.

"You're starting to forget me?" He asked, not bothering to fix his hair but instead grinning down at her. "'Lena my niece or nephew's gonna be grow up before I get a chance to meet them for the first time!" He joked.

Elena knew he was joking, but somewhere in the back of her mind she took it to heart and could feel her heart almost hurt because of the prospect of not seeing her brother that long. Soon enough, Jeremy noticed her anguish and sighed softly. "'Lena," he said softly. "I was only kidding. I wouldn't miss the birth for the world. I'm bringing popcorn and everything!"

Elena lifted her eyebrows. "Popcorn?" She asked, slightly disapproving.

"Yeah, well the way I see it, you're going to be yelling at him and calling him every name in the book so I might as well get some entertainment out of it." Jeremy chuckled and Elena punched his shoulder, rolling her eyes.

She opened her mouth to speak when she heard Stefan's voice behind them saying a quick hello to Jeremy and sharing a kiss with Elena before he went over and sat beside Klaus.

**XOXO**

Jeremy left her to go talk to Stefan and Klaus a while after and then she found herself in care of Caroline once more; they began talking about life like they had done lately.

"How's Klaus doing?" Elena said as she looked over at him. "I mean, ever since you heard about..."

"Katherine and Elijah's engagement?" Caroline spat out, sighing softly. "Yeah I guess we were both waiting for them to get over the phase they existed in and that would be it but now it's permanent and I'm not sure how Klaus feels about it. Sometimes I think he still has feelings for her because of the way he reacted when he found out that they were dating and this whole thing is just making me incredibly paranoid." She sighed as she exhaled and frowned softly, looking at Elena. "Can we not talk about this? I need happy. How's baby?"

"Well, Stefan and I had our appointment today and we saw the baby and we found out the sex." Elena said non-chalantly as she felt the baby kick softly. She smiled when she thought of when she and Stefan would start naming him or her and then the fun would begin.

Caroline looked at them both expectantly. "Well?" She said as she sat up away from Klaus, eyes broadening. "Elena Salvatore do not keep quiet about this! I can't believe you've gone the whole night without thinking about bringing it up to me."

Elena looked at her friend and rolled her eyes. "Caroline, we're telling everyone. Not just you."

Caroline took this as an initiative and stood up. "Guys!" She exclaimed with wide eyes and a big grin. "Stefan and Elena have an announcement."

Stefan emerged from the kitchen and looked at Elena. "We do?" He asked, confusion spread on his face.

She sighed and stood up, walking to stand beside him. "Caroline knows we know the sex," she said softly which caused most of the room to go silent. Elena forgot about the evening before what happened for a second as she covered her belly with her hands and felt immediately happy. "Well," she said, looking up at Stefan who wrapped his arm around her encouragingly. "As I just told Stefan and Caroline, we found out about the sex of the baby today..."

"And..." Caroline said, practically bursting with excitement.

Elena looked up at Stefan who rubbed her stomach comfortingly. "Well," she began, looking back at the room, suddenly aware that she had everyone's attention. "We're having a..."

She was cut off as Stefan kissed her cheek and looked up. "Boy. We're having a boy." He said gruffly.

**XOXO**

Ah I know, I kind of left it on a cliff hanger and first of all I left you all in suspense for like 90% of the chapter but I hope it was worth it!  
I have some names in mind and I'll do a poll later for your guys opinions. Should be up by the next chapter, so keep looking! Xo, Leighton


	6. All these things that I've done

"And a girl," Elena added and then grinned up at Stefan. Their friends certainly hadn't been expecting that and it was obvious because once her gaze turned down, she saw a room full of wide eyes, staring at her like she'd just informed them all that she was an alien from another planet. It was a shock, yes and she supposed that she shouldn't have expected any less than silence from her friends.

But silence always had two meanings, one better than the other. It could go either way; most of their friends had easily accepted the thought of one baby, so she thought two would be a little bit harder to grasp but still able to be.

After two minutes and thirty two seconds of silence – yes, she counted – Caroline cleared her throat and flashed a smile. "Um... wow." She said, sounding out of breath and exasperated. "I think I speak on behalf of half the people in this room by saying that I was definitely not expecting that one."

The room seemed to ease of its tension after she said that, as though everything had changed just by Caroline speaking. There were voices from everywhere, congratulations and all the time she felt Stefan's arm around her. Her anchor.

"I should have known." Caroline said after a long while of inspecting. "You were always so tiny that I just thought your rapid growth belly wise was just... normal. But you're huge, Elena."

Elena rolled her eyes, not sure if she should take that as a compliment or not. "Baby 1 and Baby 2 need their space," she corrected simply. Stefan knew that she was uncomfortable talking about her weight and quickly changed the subject, baby names.

**XOXO**

When they got home later that night, Elena was tired so after a short discussion, she fell asleep. Stefan stayed up long past she did, as usual, thinking of the future they had planned for them. It was hard to believe that there was going to be not one baby around the house now, but two.

He fell asleep with her in his arms and woke up half past eight as usual, having felt Elena stir against him. When he sat up, she looked up at him and wrinkled her nose. "Good morning," she said a bit tiredly. "Its weird feeling one baby inside of you, never mind dealing with two roaming around in there."

Stefan smiled down at her and ran his hand over her stomach slowly. "You'll get used to it."

"What if I don't?" She retorted back, which caused a laugh to emit from his lips. "I'm serious, what if they start fighting in my womb and it stays like that for the rest of my pregnancy?" She started to become panicked the more she thought of that possibility. Stefan's hand running over her shoulders and her stomach rhythmically calmed her down some, but not enough for her in that moment.

"Elena, baby, breathe." He said softly and she turned her head, letting out a breath she hadn't been aware she'd been holding in the first place. "Hey, listen. No more freaking yourself out. That's not good for either of you."

Elena sighed and nodded thoughtfully. "How are we going to raise two babies, Stefan?" She asked quietly, resembling a small child as she spoke. "I was freaked out enough with the prospect of one."

He reached over and held her tiny hand in his own. "We'll make it through, we always do." And then he leaned over and kissed her, sharing the emotion that he was feeling deep down in his heart. When he pulled away, Elena smiled up at him and cupped his cheek.

"We do have to talk about one important thing, though."She said, sitting up and looking down at him. "We're gonna have to decide on names for our baby girl and baby boy."

Stefan nodded up at her, a kind of simple gesture. "I kind of wish we could just call them baby one and two and not have to worry about our opinions on the names and other people's opinions and all that. But, we can't. So do you have any names in mind?"

Elena shook her head slowly. "I have these two names that I've had ever since I was like, ten. But I don't know if they're good enough for our actual children."

He raised his eyebrow in her direction and laughed softly. "Let me hear them at least?"

"Noah and Sofie." She said, running her hand over her face. "I know, they're like, totally pre-teen names that you would never want to use on anyone."

"I was supposed to be named Noah, actually." He chuckled. "But when I was born, my mother said I didn't look like a Noah, so I was named Stefan." Elena giggled with him, finding it a lot funnier than he did.

"I see that as even more of a reason to name our little boy Noah," she replied with a small smile. "But what do you think about Sofie?"

"I think it rhymes with Trophy." He retorted, earning a smack upside the head for that. "If we go with your choices, then we have to go with my choices for the middle names." He held his hand out in her direction.

Elena narrowed her eyes at his hand and then shook on it. "I think I'm going to regret this." She murmured quietly, laughing quietly. "What are you choices, Mr. Salvatore?"

"I think their middle names should be Grayson for Noah and Miranda for Sofie." He smiled up at her. "I mean, it's only right. They're the people who brought up such a beautiful young lady."

Elena blushed and dipped her head down, biting back a smile. "Sometimes you're too sweet."

Stefan sat up and tilted her head up to look at him. "I mean every single thing that I say." And then he reached over and kissed her again.

**XOXO**

Whenever Stefan would go to work, Elena was always left lonely and bored. Often times, she would spend time half asleep and being lazy around the house. Her novel had long been out and she'd been on a couple of local book tours since so there was little else for her to do.

However, Stefan had recruited Bonnie and Caroline, as usual, to spend the day with her. Most of the time she enjoyed her time alone, but today spending time with her best friends seemed like the best approach for today. Sitting on the couch in front of the TV, Elena balanced a bowl of popcorn on her belly. She was quite comfortable, so when he heard the door bell ring, she swallowed what she had in her mouth and called out, "Come in!" because there was no way she was going to get up. Not for anyone.

Caroline bounced in and took off her shoes. "Hey girlie!" She cheered softly as she sat down beside Elena. "I think I'm going to need one of those." She said, gesturing to Elena's baby bump. Though it was still somewhat smaller, Elena could practically balance anything on it while sitting comfortably. She'd only have to move it every now and again when one of the babies kicked.

Elena shook her head softly, laughing even though it wasn't that funny at all. Her hormones had a way of playing with her and making her react to things a little stronger than was intended most of the time. "Nah, I don't think you'd wanna carry around two babies just for the sake of a built-in carry seat."

When Bonnie came, the three of them began to share the popcorn while watching one of those lame tv movies that no one really pays attention to. "So, should we be worried about another bombshell like the one you shared with us yesterday?" Bonnie joked after during the protagonist's sex scene with a male they all disliked.

Elena shook her head and sighed softly. "I sure as hell hope not. Two babies is enough shock for me for the rest of my existence."

"I think I'd have to agree with you there," Caroline chuckled. "I still can't believe that there are two in there. How do they even fit?" Her voice rose with every decibel, causing more panic to the young brunette sitting in between her and her friend.

"I have no idea, but if I think about it too long my blood pressures gonna go up and then I have to explain to Stefan why I'm in the hospital." The brunette sighed and ran her finger through her hair. "So we're gonna forget about stresses and be happy! Mean Girls next!"

Halfway through the beginning of Mean Girls, one of the babies decided that her bladder was now their play toy which caused a sudden rush of urine to need to be released. Standing up, she wobbled over to the bathroom and released the pressure. As she stood up, she walked over to the vanity and washed her hands, lifting her gaze up to catch a glance of black hair behind her. She jumped and bit back a scream. "I thought I told you to leave me alone!" She hissed, hands wrapping around her stomach protectively.

When Stefan was here and she began to see the woman, she always felt safer knowing that he would return to the room and then the woman would disappear. Now, with Stefan alone and her best friends watching a movie, she was practically trapped in the bathroom with the unknown woman who sat quite comfortably on the edge of the tub. "I do very vaguely recall you telling me that," she said simply, leaning back against the wall. "You never said that I had to, though..."

"You have to leave," Elena grunted, staring her straight in the eye as she said it. "I need to get out of here. I'm going to look crazy talking to something that's not even there." She said and then began to walk toward the door.

"My name is Elizabeth Thompson." She called out, causing Elena to stop. "You asked me what my name was the first time that we met and I said that it didn't matter, but clearly you're a woman who needs to be convinced in order to help someone you don't know. So you need to be able to trust me. I trust you with my name."

Elena turned around slightly to look at Elizabeth. "Mine is-"

"I know what your name is, Elena." She said simply, cutting the other woman off. "Do you think I haven't learned something from all this soul searching being stuck around you?"

"What do you want from me?" Elena asked, slightly quieter than she had originally intended. She wanted to sound strong in this moment because the woman needed to know who was boss around here but all she could utter was the quiet mouse like voice that showed nothing but fear.

Elizabeth straightened her back and then stood up, walking over to Elena. "I need your help, as I said."

"And if I don't want to help you?" Elena retorted, crossing her arms over her chest.

Elizabeth smirked at this, a kind of familiar smirk that sent chills down Elena's spine. "Trust me, dear. You'll help me."

And then she was gone. Elena exhaled a deep breath and practically ran out of the bathroom where she sat down on the couch between her friends, practically out of breath.

"What happened?" Caroline said sarcastically. "Boogeyman get you?"

Elena shook her head, trying to think of an excuse other than _well you know I've been seeing someone lately who is kind of making me feel like I am losing my mind._ "There was this massive spider in there. I ran out of there. I hate spiders."

All of the girls shared the same expression in that moment: disgust and then Caroline looked back at the slightly ajar door. "What if it comes out and crawls on one of us?"

"It will probably go down the sink or something," Bonnie assured.

It may have been a lie, but it was a damn good one and in that moment, Elena knew she couldn't tell her friends that she'd been seeing a woman whose name had just been mentioned to her since the early stages of her pregnancy. Elizabeth Thompson. _Why does that name seem so familiar? _She thought to herself and then began to nibble at the inside of her cheek while they finished the movie.

**XOXO**

It'd been two weeks, four days and six hours and every day, Elena had seen the woman who had introduced herself as Elizabeth Thompson at least once. Maybe twice if she was that unlucky. She still had told no one and nobody had noticed her change in attitude in regards of being left alone. Stefan had joked once and called it the hormones. Elena had went along with it because she'd rather it be thought of as the hormones rather than her going completely crazy.

She went to sleep early that day, just after eleven; Bonnie was working and Caroline was spending her anniversary with Klaus. She was alone in the house, but she knew she wasn't truly alone in the house at all. It was easier to sleep than to come face to face with Elizabeth again.

When Elena woke up, she wasn't in her bed any more. She was walking away from the house at a quick pace but she couldn't stop herself. _Shh, child... everything will be okay._ She heard the voice inside her head and knew instantly who it was. "What are you doing?" Elena spoke out loud, trying to stop.

_I told you that you would help me, Elena. Whether or not you liked it._

**XOXO**

Stefan came home at the same time as he usually did. He lived on a 7-3 schedule, which worked out just fine for him because he got to come home and spend time with his wife and now his babies. When he walked in through the front door he called out, "Elena?" and waited for a response. There was none.

"Elena?" He tried again. "Baby, where are you?" He narrowed his eyes and then looked around the room. There seemed to be no signs of life downstairs, so he moved up. He checked the master bedroom first with no luck finding Elena. Then he began to search all of the guest rooms and even the babies' rooms before he pulled out his phone, calling Caroline.

"Hey!" The bubbly voice on the other end jeered. "How can I help you? Make it quick, my boyfriend is about to give me the best sex of my life."

_Way too much information, Care,_ he thought and shook his head. "Have you seen Elena today?"

"Nope," she said softly. "She told Bonnie and I that she was going to lay in bed all day until you came home. Something about the babies kicking a little too hard last night," she said and he could picture her on the other side of the phone waving her hand in the way she did when she tried to explain something.

That made Stefan instantly worried. If Elena wasn't with Caroline or Bonnie, where was she? "Alright, thanks Caroline. She must be with Jeremy. I'll give him a call."

"Alright, bye! And don't call back, unless you want a free porno." And with that, she hung up, leaving Stefan to shake his head at Caroline. Of course his best friend would be one of the most open citizens on planet earth so of course, he had to find out about exactly what she was doing in that moment.

He picked up his phone and dialled Elena's number, hearing the phone ring beside him. Of course she'd go somewhere without her phone. Hanging up, he tried Jeremy's, who gave him the 'I haven't seen Elena for a couple of weeks' line and then told him he had to study.

Stefan was sure that Elena was fine wherever she was, but that didn't settle his nerves at all. So, dialling the number of the boarding house, he waited until he heard Bonnie's cheerful voice on the other end. "Bonnie," he said softly. "I need you to do a favour for me."

**XOXO**

"So you came home and she wasn't there?" Bonnie was panicking more than he was at this point which didn't help either of them in the least. "Okay, well we kind of need Jeremy." She sighed, which caused him to sigh as well. "Alright, fine, I will call." And then she disappeared into the other room.

When she came back about twenty minutes later, she was walking with Jeremy following behind her, looking at Stefan worriedly. "Man, if you had told me that Elena was missing I would have been over here faster."

Stefan nodded. "I was trying not to make such a big deal about it. I just thought she was with one of you... it seems I was wrong."

Bonnie picked up a candle and then carried it over to the kitchen table where she had already previously laid out a map already. "Jeremy?" She asked and he walked over, offering his palm. Taking a knife, she cut a small incision on the tip of his finger and let it drop out onto the map. Jeremy stepped back once she put the knife down and then began to chant. "_Phesmatos tribum nas ex viras, Sequitas saguines, Ementas asten mihan ega petous."_

Stefan and Jeremy sat in the background, both watching Bonnie and the blood as it traveled across the map and then finally landed on an area. Stefan was just a little bit too far away to tell what it was. "Where is she?" He said curiously.

Bonnie lifted her head and licked her lips. "She's at the Salvatore tomb, Stefan." She said simply. "Why would she be at the Salvatore tomb?"

Stefan couldn't answer her, though. He didn't know why his wife would be where his father and mother and various other family members had been buried. He scrunched up his face and sighed. "Thank you, Bonnie. I've got it from here."

Jeremy caught his arm just as he was about to run off. "She's my sister, man. Let me help."

Stefan had to contemplate for a moment. Jeremy was now a vampire; had been for several years now and in the event that Elena was in danger, he could help. "Come with me, then." He said and then began walking toward the car, where he got in and turned it on, waiting for Jeremy to climb in.

His brother-in-law was next to him in a second and Stefan jumped a little. Even though he'd spent most of his existence as a vampire, it still made him jump to see another one around him now, now that he was unable to take care of himself. Stefan pulled out of the drive way and drove toward the Salvatore tomb, unsure of what he was going to see once he and Jeremy arrived there.

**XOXO**

When Elena woke up, she was on the hard ground. She didn't know where she was, nor did she remember how she got there. "Good," and there was her memory back. Well, somewhat. She still couldn't remember how she'd gotten there. "You're awake. I thought I might have done something wrong… like, kill you."

Elena sat up slowly, careful not to hurt herself in the process. If she wasn't hurt already; that was also a liable possibility. "Why did you bring me here?" She hissed out, glaring at the woman.

"Because you were going to help me," Elizabeth said softly. "Willingly or not, you had to."

"And why did I have to?" Elena retorted, getting up slowly. She didn't seem to be hurt anywhere, which was good. "I don't believe you forcing me were ever in the agenda, _Elizabeth_."

"I didn't mean it that way, dear." She seemed calmer, less insistent than she had been since Elena had first started "seeing" her. It made her instantly more suspicious. Why, after all this insistence and all this insanity was she now calm? "I just, nobody answered my call for so long. You were the only one who looked twice at me. I'd been in here for so long, mummified. Hungry, I needed someone to get me out of here and you did."

It was the first time she had woke up that she realized the state of Elizabeth's clothing. They were ratty with holes in random spots but they were distinctly Victorian, or from somewhere around there. "I don't know you. I don't want to."

Elizabeth smiled solemnly as Elena finished speaking. "I know you don't know me. But you know a couple of people very close to me, and that was why I was glad that it was you who began to see me."

"I know some people that you do as well?" Elena asked, scrunching her eyebrows.

Before Elizabeth could respond, Stefan and Jeremy rushed down into the tomb and she quickly looked around, seeing Stefan stop in his place.

"Maman?"

**XOXO**

Hee! Hi guys, I'm sorry this took so long but I hope it was well worth the wait. Xo!


	7. Some things come too early

The bright flicker of remembrance never left Elena's mind; the reunion was still in the forefront of her mind. Stefan and his mother... it was strange. She'd been seeing this woman for so long and now she couldn't get rid of her, not even if she tried.

Rubbing her hand over her tummy, she felt one of the baby's kicked against her palm. Now at seven months pregnant, it'd been nearly a month and a half since Elizabeth "Elle" Salvatore had walked into her life physically and everything had changed since then. Of course, if Miranda was to miraculously rise from the grave then she supposed that she would be stuck to her like glue as well but she was beginning to wonder if Stefan even remembered who she was.

After all, it did hurt that he was leaving her for a complete day for a woman he didn't really know.

"Hey baby," she sighed as she continued to look into the living room from the kitchen. She'd come in there with the intention of eating something but the thought of Elle suddenly made her appetite go away. She'd been sucking the life out of Elena since the day she'd showed up and now that she was alive and not just a vision, ignoring her was downright impossible.

Of course, who was she to judge? Shouldn't she want her husband to be closer to his mother? Shouldn't she want her daughter and son to have a grandparent in their lives?

She couldn't even answer that without wanting to throw up. Why she was so jealous of this woman? It made her seem weak and the last thing she wanted was to seem weak.

Shaking her head, Elena ran her fingers over her belly once more and turned her direction down to the bump protruding from her stomach. Today was her check-up and while Stefan had assured her that he would be there, he was already ten minutes later than the time that he'd told her he'd be there and she was getting really sick and tired of this.

Stefan couldn't keep leaving her hanging; she wasn't just some girl he'd hooked up with once and promised to call her back. She was his wife, and he'd vowed to protect her and be there for her. Not run off with Mommy dearest whenever she called.

Hearing the door open, she exhaled a breath of relief and waited until Stefan moved into the room. She thought about giving him crap for being late but she was so glad that he was there that the moment he was close enough, she was hugging him tightly, burying her face in his neck.

"Hey 'Lena, babies." He said as he kissed her head and then pulled back to kiss her belly. "Sorry I'm late; I got caught up in this freak accident. Some guy on a motorcycle ran right into the side of this other car. It was pretty gruesome, I have to say."

She smiled slightly as he straightened back up, inwardly cursing herself for thinking that he was being late on purpose, knowing that he knew when her appointment was. "And you wonder why I don't like you riding on your motorcycle," she teased, placing her hands on his shoulder.

Stefan wrapped his arms around her as best as he could and winked at her. "You don't want me to ride my motorcycle?" He teased back, earning a smack on his face, a light one.

"Shut up before you get yourself in trouble." She whispered softly, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Stick that tongue back in before I bite it off," he retorted, to which she laughed and shook her head, the look in her eye challenging him to do it. He knew he'd be in little trouble because they were only teasing, but something held him back from completing the task. Instead, he opted to get them to the hospital early. "Ready to go?" He asked, caressing her sides.

Elena nodded quietly. "Ready," she said softly.

Ready as she'd ever be.

**XOXO**

A baby shower, that was what they needed, she decided. So a baby shower is what they would get.

Caroline worked her way around the house quietly, Klaus following behind her. She knew the way around Elena and Stefan's house very well, but with the go-to that they were at the hospital, she knew that there was little time to prepare for the surprise baby shower that she and Bonnie had been on-off planning for a couple of weeks now.

"Remind me again why I was volun-told to help you? Where is the lovely Bonnie?" Klaus asked from behind her, causing her to roll her eyes. Caroline placed half dozen bags full of items that she intended to hang around the house in only a half an hour. Klaus thought she was insane, she thought she was practical.

"Because you love me," Caroline said softly with a bright grin on her face as she took out a couple of items from the smaller bag. Neither of them were typically small he supposed. When Caroline went all out, she went the whole nine yards and nothing short. "And because I have things that I can withhold from you, especially considering your brother is coming to town very soon."

Klaus groaned and obediently lead himself to the table where he gazed at her for a long time before sighing. "What can I help you with?"He asked, though he didn't sound half as happy as Caroline would have hoped. She couldn't have everything, she supposed. Klaus was nice enough to even show up with her today, so she supposed that was a step.

"Take the banners and hang them up, oh and clear up the living room a bit. I know it's not too bad, but we're going to have to have an area for the guests to sit and another area for the gifts..."

As she rambled on and on, Klaus once again contemplated just what he'd gotten himself into. His girlfriend was definitely a handful.

**XOXO**

Preparing the house was easy, it always was. Caroline could prepare a party in seconds if needed; a good hour was hardly a challenge. The challenge was getting everyone to the house. Matt and Rebekah came shortly after they did, and Jeremy had too. The only ones who were left were, of course, Damon and Bonnie. She loved her best friend deeply but ever since she and Damon had become serious, it had begun to be completely impossible to get her to come anywhere which made her shudder to think about. So she didn't.

"Love," Klaus said softly, breaking her out of her thoughts. "We've only got about another half an hour before Elena and Stefan returns home, do you think you could get that bloke and the witch to hurry up?" He seemed a little more anxious about it than she would. Bonnie, well she came with Damon who always made an entrance.

It was funny to think how far Klaus had gone since they had first met him. Once a big bad wolfpire – as Caroline liked to tease – he had completely turned around and now actually worked with the others willingly, without having to be talked into it.

"He'll be here," Caroline said simply, knowing Damon and his tardiness. "If he has any respect for his balls, he will be here."

"Ouch, blondie," Damon said from the corner of the room, winking at them both. His arm was wrapped around Bonnie who seemed humored by the interaction. "And here I was, thinking we were finally getting along."

Caroline rolled her eyes, opening her mouth to retort back at him just as Rebekah walked into the room, looking slightly frazzled. "They're early!" She said quickly and then the entirety of their friends for the remaining few seconds they had before Elena and Stefan would arrive, everyone rushed around, placing things where they needed to go and then situating themselves. Just as the front door opened, Caroline sped over and met Elena face to face at the door, a large grin on her face.

"Hey Elena! Stefan!" She said softly, causing her friend to jump slightly at the sudden appearance of their friend.

Elena held her hand against her chest dramatically and shook her head. "Jesus, remind me to revoke your privileges of keys."

Caroline had to laugh, of course she always had her dramatic entrances and more than once and all of them had started soon after they had given Caroline and Klaus a key to their apartment. She didn't mean to abuse her privileges, it just happened. "I won't," she grinned and then stepped back. "Surprise!"

The room erupted in their own versions of surprise and Elena looked around, taken aback once more as she noticed the decorations, her friends and specifically why they were there. "Caroline, I'm only seven months along. I still have another two months." She said, almost condescendingly, but she was grateful she had a friend in her life that would spend her day getting together something like this just for her.

"It's never too early to celebrate babies!" Caroline shook her head, pointing her finger at Elena as she finally emerged into the house, letting Stefan see the sight she'd been staring at for the past four minutes. Of course, he was just as taken aback by it as Elena was; it was still a bit strange for him to even have children with Elena, never mind celebrating them.

"Come on, let's celebrate! I have games planned and then we got you guys some gifts and well, this is only the beginning!" Caroline grinned at her two friends even wider – if at all possible at that point – and took their hands, leading them over to the couch where she instructed them to sit and just enjoy themselves.

It seemed like that wasn't in the plan for them today, as shortly after they'd all settled into a game of "Inside the diaper bag" (courtesy of Caroline who paid nearly three hundred dollars for the bag and the items inside) when the door opened and Elle Salvatore moved inside. Elena noticed the look on Stefan's face almost immediately: relief.

Of course, it was unconventional the way they were doing their shower, but it didn't mean it was any less sentimental to her. So to see Stefan so relieved that his mother was there and he'd be able to get away made her sick to her stomach. "Hey, am I interrupting something?"

Before Stefan could respond, Elena did. "Yes, you are." She said plainly. "We're having our baby shower. You can come back later."

Stefan stood up and looked down at her with a strange look on his face. "What are you doing?" He said softly, almost confused.

"Stefan, our friends planned this for us. You remember that right, us? Or is it just you and your Mom now?" Elena glared up at him.

"I don't even know where this is coming from." He sounded hurt which only made her angrier.

"I don't know where your attitude is coming from either, but I don't question it." Elena stood up now, well after a few moments of struggling and stared up at him. "It's me or it's your Mom, Stefan. We can't have both." Without letting him answer, she moved away and walked out of the room and struggled her way up the stairs.

**XOXO**

Elena wiped her tears once she'd heard footsteps coming up toward the room. The surprise party had been a total bust and there was no way in hell she was going back down there to face Elle. She'd gone too far this time.

As the door opened, she sniffled and looked up to see Stefan hesitantly enter the room. She wanted to tell him to go away but even his presence, despite everything, gave her a calming. "I'm sorry about my Mother," he said as he moved into the room slowly, making sure the door was closed completely. Even though that wouldn't stop Elle from listening to their conversation with her super vampire hearing; it was the most annoying part of her. "From what I've heard, she can be a little demanding."

Elena tried to smile but the smile easily turned into a sob and then she was a mess again. Her hormones were all over the place and she knew that she should not be crying right now because it was not the time or place, she needed to be stronger for her babies and herself. "I know, Stefan. All mothers are demanding and over the top. I know that, I'm going to be a mother. I should know that right?" She snapped, sighing as Stefan flinched at her words.

"Elena," Stefan said softly, almost hesitantly.

"What, Stefan?" She asked, standing up suddenly and looking him in the eye. "Am I wrong? Shouldn't I be down there holding hands with her and asking her how it was to be a Mom for several years before she chose to leave you? Maybe I should take some notes and then we can be the best of buddies! That's what you want, isn't it?" Her voice was rising with every word she said and she was becoming hysterical. She couldn't help it.

"Where is this coming from?" He asked, albeit still hesitantly. He'd never seen her so angry in all of the time he'd known her. Not even when Damon had killed Jeremy, but he knew it was mostly hormones this time around. She was blowing everything out of proportion but he didn't have the heart to tell her to stop.

"Where is this coming from?" She asked, her voice squeaking. "I haven't seen you all week. We come home from our doctor's appointment that I'm sure you didn't want to even go to and then get surprised by our friends and then your mother shows up and ruins everything!" She yelled. She didn't even care how loud she was right now or even if she was attracting anyone else's attention. "I don't even know who you are anymore, Stefan! I don't see you long enough during the day to hear about your day or what you do or anything like that anymore!"

Stefan watched as she grew in hysterics again, big round tears rolling down her cheeks. "Elena..." he said tiredly, not wanting to get into anything with her.

"You don't even know what to say!" She sobbed, shaking her head. "Leave, Stefan. Just go, I know you want to."

Stefan was at her side in an instance, shaking his head. "I don't want this, Elena. I don't want to leave you."

Elena dipped her head down as he cupped her cheeks, trying everything to get her to look at him. "Stefan, please..." she said tiredly. "Leave."

Stefan swallowed a bit harder than he thought possible in that moment and slowly, he pulled his hands away from her, backing away just as slow. Elena didn't lift up her head, nor give him any indication that she wanted him there, which broke his heart even more than he thought possible. She turned away from him and went back over to the bed, lying down.

As much as he didn't want to, he turned away too and left her, laying there, feeling the pieces of his heart fall out as he did so.

**XOXO**

Long after Stefan left and the party was clearly ruined, Caroline walked up to the room that Elena and Stefan shared and knocked hesitantly on it. "Elena?"

She waited for a response of any kind, maybe even a sniffle but there was nothing but silence, but if anything it grew more silent despite the fact that everyone was downstairs cleaning up from the failed party.

Opening the door, Caroline looked in and saw Elena on the floor and frowned. "Elena?" She said, pushing the door open further, seeing red pooled around Elena on the floor.

The only thing heard through the house was her scream.

**XOXO**

Okay guys, I apologize for this bullshit of a chapter and I know that Elena may seem a little bit childish in this but you gotta give her a chance. Stefan is reunited with his Mama bear and ignoring her and while that's kind of out of character for Stefan, I needed some shit to hit the fan eventually so here it is. Elle is not trying to be the wedge between Stefan and Elena, but Elena's overactive mind and hormones are leading her to that impression.

I don't mean to make Elle seem like a heartless bitch, she will be redeemed soon, I promise!

Anyway, sorry for the late update! I hope you enjoyed this one.


	8. How could this happen to me?

Caroline blessed the heavens that in her time as a vampire she had learned to control the urges, because for the last half an hour, all she'd been around is the substance. Perhaps it was her worry for Elena and her babies that helped her even more, but she didn't think about that right now. She couldn't, it always lead to dangerous places in her mind that she couldn't afford to think about now.

_But they're here too soon..._ her subconscious reminded her and she felt like screaming. _No, Caroline. Do not think bad things. Elena will be okay. The babies will be okay._

She felt Klaus' hand on her knee and shot her head in his direction. "I'm doing it again, aren't I?"

It'd been thirty minutes since Caroline had found Elena in a pool of her own blood, thirty minutes that involved getting Elena to the nearest hospital - and breaking every traffic law possible - and then getting her into surgery. It'd been twelve minutes and fourty two seconds since Caroline had last seen Elena and she was going insane without knowing what was going on.

Caroline say the flicker of sadness in his eyes and sighed softly. Whenever she would start going crazy inside her head - as he so eloquently described it - she became very tense and her veins popped out. She wasn't hungry by any mean, but neither of them could afford her being spotted. Especially since Mystic Falls were convinced that all the vampires were gone.

"I'm sorry," she said and rubbed her eyes. "I don't know why I'm so worried. Nothing is wrong, right?" Her voice crumbled as she spoke, and she looked at him, tears filling her eyes. "Right?" She said, much weaker than she would have normally been. Caroline prided herself on being a strong individual, and now she was weaker than ever.

"There's nothing to be sorry about," he said after a long moment and reached over, cupping her cheek in his hand. Maybe it was not for the best that he convince her otherwise because there was a very good chance that Elena would not come out of surgery alive or at the very least she would be severely damaged in the process. "Everything will be okay."

Even if it wasn't, somehow they'd get along. He felt Caroline huff against the inside of his neck as if to tell him she didn't believe in what he said but he didn't argue with her. It was okay that she didn't believe, because they both should be aware of the circumstances they would have to deal with in the event that Elena Salvatore didn't live to take another breath.

Once Caroline calmed down some, she pulled away and looked up at him with puffy eyes. "Can you try Stefan again please?" She asked and he nodded, taking his phone out. There was no missed calls and in this timing it was never good. Klaus kissed the top of her head and stood up, walking down to the end of the hall where it would be harder for nurses to spot him and yell at him for being on the phone.

Pressing the number "2" on his speed dial, Klaus waited, wishing and hoping that his friend would pick up the phone. This would be the fourth time that he called him and if anything, Stefan should have learned by now to always have his phone on him. For some reason, every time he didn't, something happened to Elena.

_Flashback - March 29, 2012_

"Care, it's only a little cut." Elena said as they walked in through the doors of the hospital. It more certainly was not just a cut. Elena had fallen down and sliced her arm open on a nail in Klaus and Caroline's unfinished backyard and she was bleeding profusely. "I don't understand why you just didn't give me blood and let it heal that way."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Because the last time I gave you blood you were captured and then we were at risk of having to dig the cure back up again."

Elena laughed as they walked up to the registration booth where the nurse immediately got them into a room and a doctor got to working on her arm. Caroline picked up her phone and compelled the Doctor not to say anything as Klaus walked in the room. "Stefan, would you please pick up your god damn phone! I swear to god if Elena was actually dying you would be sorry!" She yelled into the phone and slammed it shut.

Yes, Caroline Forbes was nothing if not dramatic.

"Care my arm isn't going to fall off, it's going to be fine." Elena said in a disapproving tone, as she laid her opposite hand over her stomach. She'd been doing that a lot lately; Caroline made a mental note to ask her about that later. Even though it'd been a couple months since Stefan and Elena had became human, it was never too late for her to have nieces and nephews to take care of.

Caroline shook her head. "You never know what may happen, Elena. That boy has to get used to answering his phone, you never know, the next time he doesn't, you may actually be dying."

_End flashback_

Klaus swallowed as he stepped out of the thought and heard Stefan's voice on the other end. "Klaus, why are you calling me?" He asked, sounding more confused than he'd ever heard him in his life.

"Uh, man, I don't know how to tell you this. But I think you need to get here as soon as possible. Elena's in surgery... we're not sure what happened."

He could hear Stefan's hard swallow on the other end of the phone. "I'll be there in ten minutes. Where are you guys right now?"

"We're outside the OR, in chairs that Caroline compelled to get brought to us. We'll be waiting."

**XOXO**

Stefan Salvatore had felt lost in his life several times over the decades of his existence, but hearing that Elena was in surgery left him in a state that even he couldn't stand any longer. He couldn't even drive himself to the hospital, mostly out of fear that he would get caught up in his thoughts and their last conversation and drive himself off the road.

Damon tapped his hand lightly and he looked over. "Little brother, we're here."

Little Brother was a name that Damon only used when they were in situations like these when he had to be sensitive of Stefan's feelings, especially considering what he was going through with Elena now. Stefan nodded and took his belt off, reaching over to grab the door handle when Damon grabbed his wrist. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

Stefan looked up at him with blank eyes and simply said, "no" before getting out of the car and walking into the hospital. In the back seat, Bonnie unbuckled her belt and moved forward. "If she doesn't wake up..."

"She will." Damon cut her off and looked at his brother walk into the hospital.

"How can you be so sure?" Bonnie said softly, eyes filled with confusion.

Damon exhaled and took off his own belt, opening the car door. "If there's anything that I know," he said as he stepped out, grabbing his keys and shoving them into his pocket before he opened Bonnie's door and shut his own. "Is that Elena's a fighter. She's a Salvatore now, there's no way we give up."

Bonnie nodded and took his hand, looking at the hospital. "I don't know what he's going to do if she doesn't wake up."

As they began to walk, Damon was quiet for a moment before he shook his head. "I honestly can't answer that question without thinking the worst of this situation.

By the time they got upstairs, Stefan was standing in the corner, looking down at the floor, obviously deep in his thoughts. Across from him sat Klaus and Caroline, both staring up at him worriedly.

"Has there been an update?" Bonnie asked tentatively, not sure what answer she was going to get by asking that question.

Caroline nodded her head. "Noah and Sofie are amongst us. Noah was three pounds even and Sofie was two pounds four ounces."

"And Elena?" Damon asked, watching as his brother's eyes flickered up finally and looked at him and him only.

Caroline swallowed. "She's in a coma. They're not sure what caused it but it probably had something to do with the placental abruption of the babies." She sighed softly. "At this point, there's no expected wake-up time for her. They're hoping to have more information soon."

Even though there was a possibility of a positive outlook in the near future, Damon knew he wasn't the only one who could feel the ominous atmosphere of the area. Bonnie was right, he wasn't sure what would become of Stefan if Elena didn't wake up.

It seemed like already they were finding out who he would be.

**XOXO**

Though it had taken a lot of convincing on Caroline's part, Stefan had agreed to see his children and step away from Elena. They needed their father more than ever, she had explained, and she was right. They weren't aware that their mother was in a coma; they were searching for protection, for love.

They were so tiny. Sofie especially.

The nurses clothed them both in uncomfortable gowns and hats and gloves, which was necessary protocol for the habitat of the babies. But that didn't mean Caroline was going to enjoy having to mess up her hair in the process. Stefan walked over to Noah's incubator, looking at all the wires and tubes that his son was attached to and then looked over at Sofie, who was not in a much better shape.

Caroline walked up behind him and sighed softly. "Sofie has Elena's nose," she said after a while of silence. Stefan looked over and despite himself, a smile appeared on his face. His daughter, even only a few hours old, resembled her mother so much. He could see bits and pieces of himself in both of the children but Elena's genes were domineering.

"They both have her hair," he said as he extended his arms through the arm holes and grasped Noah's tiny hand in his own.

Stefan had never felt more scared in his life.

Though premature children were born constantly and he was assured by countless nurses and doctors that they would grow up to be bouncing children who would wake them up in the middle of the night because they had a bad dream, it did nothing to settle his nerves. Three hours after he'd come to the hospital, the only thing that he'd heard about their mother was that they had to put her on a ventilator because she wasn't breathing enough on her own.

Looking over at Sofie, he reached in and took her hand in his own as well, diverting his gaze between them. The two tiny hands lay in the palm of his own, no bigger than his thumb in diameter. They were so tiny; they still had so long to go before they could function on their own. A lot still needed to be developed. "We'll all walk out of here soon," he said softly, hearing Caroline sigh in the background. "Well maybe not you guys, if you came out of here walking I think I'd have to start questioning what those doctors are giving you."

Somewhere behind him, he could hear the faintest of laughter coming from his best friend, who he knew was trying to be strong for both him and Elena in these trying times but she was crumbling just as fast as he was.

Physically strong didn't amount to nothing when they were in a predicament like this.

**XOXO**

Stefan sat Elena's room beside her bed alone. Caroline and Klaus had left hours ago upon the news that his brother and new sister-in-law had returned to Mystic Falls for a short trip. His brother, despite everything, had left with Bonnie because they wer eboth tired. In a way, Stefan understood that not everyone could be there the lengths that he would be. They had lives they had to carry on with. Sure, he had to go back to work eventually. Even though his children were still in the hospital and so was his wife, they would need an income to support them eventually.

Of course, somehow he was blessed that upon hearing the news about Elena's condition, his work had been pretty lenient. But that didn't mean they were going to hand the money that he would need to support his family.

Looking at Elena now broke his heart. She was always the strong one of the duo; she was the one that kept him sane even in his darkest hours.

So, naturally, seeing her like she was now... it was strange and gave him little comfort. The door rattled slightly and he looked up to see Meredith come in quietly, offering a half smile in his direction. She picked up Elena's chart at the foot of her bed, began reading over the machines and then looked over at him. "There's a slight improvement in her breathing but that's all I have to tell you now."

Stefan nodded, licking his lips. "Thanks," he mumbled quietly, though he was not thankful at all. How could he be? His wife was attached to monitors and wires; his children weren't in better shape. He watched as Meredith walked over to the door and hovered for a moment before she left.

Sympathy was expected, especially after everything that had went down. But Stefan didn't believe he deserved sympathy. Because if everything went down the way he dreaded it would, the last conversation he would ever have with his wife was an argument. How did someone like him deserve sympathy?

"Elena..." he choked out, shaking his head. He reached over and grabbed her hand in his. "Listen here... you need to... you need to wake up." He choked out, biting down on his lip as he tried to hold himself together. "Noah and Sofie.. they really need their Mom. And I need their mom too."

Stefan felt hot tears roll down his cheeks as he laid his head beside her hand, squeezing her hand as he did so. Yes, he should have been strong in that moment but he couldn't bring himself to be.

The truth was, to anyone who knew Stefan Salvatore, they also knew that he would be and was nothing without Elena. And now, he was at the brink of losing her forever.

**XOXO**

Twenty missed calls highlighted the screen of his iPhone the next morning as he picked it up and ignored the alert, checking what time it was before he tried to get comfortable again in the chair beside her bedside. He'd been there a week, maybe a week and a half. He didn't know any more.

All he knew was that with every day that Elena didn't wake up, the doctors became more agitated and worried for her condition. And they had no qualms of reminding Stefan of that, who seemed like the only person in the damn hospital who had any faith that his wife would wake and be fine after all of this.

The door opened slightly and a young nurse walked in, smiling slightly at him. He'd seen her once or twice in the past week but even now he couldn't remember all the names. She started to look over all of the charts and monitors like every other doctor and nurse in the hospital had.

It seemed as though Mystic Falls had never seen a coma patient before, or at the very least they were acting like it. After a thorough check-up, she scribbled something onto her chart and then moved on with her day, pretty much the same way that all of them did.

Except this nurse stopped and looked at him like she felt sympathetic to his situation. Like it wasn't his choice to be there night after night. Stefan got used to the uncomfortable pain in his neck and the pain in his back he received from sleeping in the chair the way he did. He didn't get enough sleep and the only time he went home was to shower.

He'd been encouraged by one Doctor, who finally gave up telling him to go home because he wouldn't, to sleep beside her because it might generate a reaction. He had tried it, but laying beside Elena without feeling her with him, he couldn't do it. It wasn't the same as sleeping with her before.

She'd been there with him physically and mentally before.

He tore his gaze away from the nurse and looked back at Elena who's chest was forced up and down by the ventilator. If anything, Elena was the one who deserved the sympathy. Not him.

A day came and went and the regular schedule that they went through commenced and ended. It started off with morning check-ups, lunch being brought into him and then being taken back out. The same happening with supper. Somewhere in between that, Caroline dropped by alongside Klaus, bringing him actual food from Mcdonalds, as she'd called it. He didn't necessarily call it actual food.

He fell asleep in his chair and woke up the next morning to the feeling of being shaken. "Stefan," the voice said softly and it took him a couple of moments to realize who was talking.

"Mama?" He said as he opened his eyes, squinting. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm taking you out. Do not worry my son, Caroline will stay with Elena while we are gone." Elle immediately saw the look on Stefan's face and frowned softly. "This is not up for discussion, my baby." She said softly and hoisted him up.

He saw Caroline in the doorway walking in and smiling as though she was sorry at him as Elle dragged him past her. Elle continued to drag him until they were down in the parking lot where she handed him the keys to his car and frowned at him. "I do not know how to drive this contraption. You will have to."

He'd forgotten that his mother had been puportedly dead in the process of reuniting with her so it took him a couple of moments to nod his head and then walked to his car. He was used to being driven back and forth by either Caroline or Klaus, and occasionally Damon. Getting into the car behind the driver's seat was strange, different. He waited until Elle climbed in the car beside him. "Where to?" He asked.

"The boarding house. We have some things to talk about."

**XOXO**

Hearing about Elle's affair with a vampire was hard for Stefan. Finding out that it was none other than Kol Mikaelson who was the one she was having an affair with in the first place? That just made his blood boil.

"I wasn't in love, I was having fun." She said softly, licking her lips. "Unfortunately that fun meant your father doing everything in his power to ensure that I never saw my sons again. Even incarcerate me.

Damon swallowed hard and looked over at his younger brother who couldn't look his mother in the eye. "How did you come back?" He asked with a frown. "You should be dead, or at the very least as close to it as possible."

"Someone answered my call." She whispered, scratching her skin though she wasn't itchy. She was nervous. "I didn't know who she was at first. But she was very beautiful. She was angry with me for showing up." She sighed as she remembered her various encounters with Elena and how they'd wound up in this situation. "Then I found out her name was Elena Salvatore and I knew it couldn't be a coincidence."

Stefan rose his eyebrows in her direction. "How did you know we were still alive?"

Elle looked at them both. "Your brother told me." She said. "When he tried to help me escape."

"Henry?" Damon asked. "Henry was born after you died. I wasn't aware he knew you existed."

Stefan looked back and forth between the duo and sighed. "Is this all we needed to talk about? I'd really like to get back to the hospital."

Elle nodded softly. "You two needed to know how I was here... and why I have to leave."

**XOXO**

It was Caroline's idea. "Just a little blood, Stefan. You don't leave her side, nothing bad could happen."

It was Stefan's reluctance that caused her to spend the rest of her day reminding him the effects of vampire blood, as though he'd never been a vampire at all. "Caroline," he'd warned once. "She needs to heal on her own."

"And she will," she'd said in the same tone of voice. "I'm giving her enough that she survives, Stefan."

Eventually, he said yes. Not because he wanted to give Caroline what he wanted, but because above all, he knew that the blood would help her. And that he wouldn't have to worry about her dying.

Of course that didn't stop his worrying. When Caroline moved closer to Elena and began to remove the tubes he started seeing the vitals drop. "Are you sure its going to work because she's not going to accept it willingly..." he started off and Caroline just laughed, biting into her wrist before she placed it on Elena's mouth. After a few moments, he started noticing that she was breathing on her own. It gave him some hope.

Caroline pulled her wrist away and looked down at Elena, caressing her face. "She should be good now. If you'll excuse me, I have some doctors to go compel into thinking that this happened naturally."

When Caroline left, Stefan moved closer to her and smiled at how healthy she looked. Of course this was the unnatural way of doing it but he couldn't care less. He'd do anything to make sure she stayed alive.

Pulling the chair up beside her bed, he waited. One hour passed and then two and while the doctors said she was improving very quickly, she still wasn't awake. The blood had helped her heal and now it was her brain's turn to decide to wake up.

That night, after many hours of watching her, his eyes grew tired. In spite of himself, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

What he didn't hear was the sound of the heart monitor crawling into a long _beeeeeeeeeeeeep._

* * *

Hi guys! I hope that you aren't all disappointed with the lack of Stelena and the dynamic of the other couples. I hope you guys like this chapter, I didn't get a whole lot of reviews last chapter but that's okay. Review please 3 I'll give you penis shaped cookies!


	9. You make it real for me

Her eyes popped open as the air filled her lungs at a rapid pace. She knew this feeling, knew the rush as she woke and realized where she was. It was so familiar, so dangerous, everything she'd never wanted to be wrapped up in one word.

She couldn't even bring herself to say it.

Elena ran her fingers through her hair, tugging it through the knots and bumps that had settled there in the time she'd been out. How long had that been? A day? A week? A year?

Elena pushed the stale covers away from her body and stood up, feeling the light tug at her skin. She looked over and shook her head, pulling out the IV out of her skin. She waited for the wound to heal before she remembered – of course; she needs blood to complete the transition: human blood.

The brunette moved through the room slowly and then opened the door, stepping into the hallway. It was pretty quiet for the Mystic Falls Hospital, but as she looked around, a nurse caught sight of her. "Mrs. Salvatore!" She said as she rushed over to her, catching the attention of a few more nurses. Soon there was at least five surrounding her. "What are you doing up?"

"I woke up?" Elena replied with a questioning tone, raising her eyebrow. "What the hell are you surrounding me for? Where are my babies?"

"Mrs. Salvatore," one of the other nurses spoke. "You need to go lay back down until we get you checked out…"

"No, what you need to do is give me the direction of the nursery so I can see my children." Elena said furiously, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked over at all of them as they slowly backed away. "Your babies aren't in the nursery yet, Mrs. Salvatore."

Elena frowned softly; the sudden memory of what had occurred flashing back in front of her. Her fight with Stefan, the feeling she had before it was all darkness. "My babies," she whispered, gasping. "Where are they? I want to see my babies."

The nurses tossed a look around before the elder of them all, or at least she looked older, extended her hand. "Come on, Mrs. Salvatore. I'll bring you to them."

**XOXO**

"Mr. Salvatore, " the Doctor spoke in an indifferent tone on the other end of the phone as Stefan stood, surrounded by their friends. "Your wife has woken up, but she refuses to leave the babies alone." Stefan chuckled as he heard that, knowing Elena very well and not finding that surprising at all. "Sir, this isn't really a funny topic. She won't allow anyone to check on her. "

Stefan shook his head and ran his hand over his face. "I don't know what you want me to do, Doctor. My wife is very set in her ways. If she wants to sit with Sofie and Noah for the rest of the year then she will gladly sit right there."

Elena's Doctor, an elder male named Edgar, sighed on the other end of the phone again. Of course, it wasn't good that Elena was resisting a check-up but it had been two weeks since the babies were born, two weeks since Elena had gone into a coma. She'd missed two weeks with them, albeit it was a very uneventful two weeks. "Mr. Salvatore, I'm going to have to ask you to come in and help us detach your wife from the children. We can't by legal rights remove her from her own children without provocation on her end."

Stefan nodded understandingly. "All right, I'll be there at the nearest time I can be. I have to call into work and explain to them the situation and let them know I will be late."

"All right, Mr. Salvatore. We just need to know that your wife's vitals are okay. We managed to stabilize her yesterday after she crashed, but it is still very possible that something else could go wrong with her." Edgar explained into the receiver, reciting the same story Stefan had already heard several times before. "I will see you soon, then, Mr. Salvatore."

Then he hung up.

Ever since yesterday, Elena had gone from a possible three month coma patient to a woman walking around and apparently resisting evaluation. To any normal person, this would be literally impossible. From what he understood, Elena had no trouble with her motor skills. While it had only been two weeks, someone who hadn't walked that long should at the very least be stumbling around, not walking around like a model on a runway.

"So, it seems she's attached herself to the babies and refuses to leave," Stefan said, finally addressing their friends around them. Caroline laughed softly as she heard it, clearly thinking the same thing that Stefan was. They both knew Elena so well that her behavior at that point didn't surprise either of them. "And they see this as a problem considering she just spent the last two weeks in a coma. So they called in reinforcements."

The room, though still very tense, seemed to settle a bit after those words. Elena was fine and human and that was all that mattered right? Of course – but there was one minor detail: Elena still had roughly six hours until the vampire blood would be finally removed from her system and it was vital that she be kept in the eye of someone who could protect her at all times.

The cure was a one-time deal. Whatever happened after that was what happened. There was no turning back.

Stefan knew that was what he feared the most about this situation.

If Elena turned a vampire now, he would never be able to forgive himself because it would be his fault that she would be a vampire again. It was he who caved in and let his guard down. If anything, in those moments he should have been protecting her life not risking it by going against nature.

Stefan cast a glance around the room at the sudden expectant and silent faces. "I should get going. You guys can see yourself out, I hope." He tried to joke but he cut off himself before he went any further and turned around, grabbing his keys on his way out of the door.

**XOXO**

Seeing Elena cradling Noah in her arms, masked and in one of those uncomfortable gowns that he'd been forced to wear all of the times that he'd been to see his son and daughter broke his heart.

Her doctor gave him the items to suit up and within only a minute or two, he crept in the room, seeing her gaze lift up momentarily. She looked so hollow and he'd wondered if they'd been able to get her to eat anything since she'd woken up. He doubted it. "Hey," he said quietly, moving over to sit down beside her.

All he could think was that this was not supposed to be the way they met their children for the first time.

"Hey," Elena greeted him quietly, brushing her gloved hand across Noah's forehead as she carefully rocked back and forth. Their son didn't seem to mind the interaction at all and while he'd been taking off the feeding tube earlier that week, his sister was still connected to a series of wires and tubes that fed her. The Doctors assumed it would be another couple of weeks at the very least before they even suggested taking her off her support.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, looking up at her to watch her expression as he asked that question. Elena didn't flinch or even move.

"They let me feed him today," she said with glee, looking up at him too. She shared a genuine smile with him. "I figured it should be the last thing I do as a human, feed my son. I may not be able to see him for a while."

Stefan halted his breath, frowning. Did she think she was a….?

Was she a vampire? He looked into her eyes, trying to find a sign that she was one or the other but all he was met with was her warm brown eyes. There was no sign of vampirism yet.

They'd gotten her back before she completely died, the doctor had said, but perhaps it wasn't quick enough for the vampire blood to take its course and turn her into the one thing he'd worked so hard to take her away from.

"Elena, can we try something?" He asked after a long while of thinking. Elena looked up at him expectantly, nodding.

"Of course, what are you thinking?" She lifted up one of her hands from Noah to reach over and cup Stefan's cheek, as though she wanted to embrace every moment they spent together in the next few hours.

"Can we go and get you something to eat? Because if you are really what you think you are, then we're going to have to get you something heavier to eat." He asked her tentatively.

He looked at her and for a moment he thought that she would deny his offer and wishes to stay with their son and daughter for a bit longer but instead she stood, laid Noah back down and held out her hand to him.

Taking her away from the room seemed to cast a great amount of relief among the nurses and her Doctor, though he told them immediately he was going to get her something to eat and then if she wished they would go back and see their children. Elena would get looked at whenever she wanted to. He was not going to pressure her into it.

Elena smiled at his protectiveness as he settled down onto her hospital setting a tray of the best hospital food available. Elena had demanded they spend time alone and Stefan had agreed on the condition that while he went and get their food. It wasn't a fair trade she had said but agreed anyway because she was hungry.

He handed her a tuna sandwich and watched as she unwrapped the plastic wrap and bit into it greedily. He watched, specifically, her reaction to the food and was overcome with emotion when she kept eating the sandwich. "Mm this is soooo good!" She grinned.

Stefan had never felt so relieved in his entire life. Of course, he would always love Elena but seeing her as a vampire the first time around wasn't the person who Elena was supposed to be. He was honestly so relieved that she wouldn't have to worry about that any more.

Once they finished their "meal" he launched the tray across the room and launched himself into her arms, holding her tight. "I am so glad you are okay," he whispered into the crook of her neck.

"I thought I was a vampire. I woke up this morning and I felt so alive." She whispered back, collapsing into him for the first time in a while. "I remember waking up after the accident and feeling just like that."

Stefan tightened his arms around her, kissing her neck repeatedly. There was no way he was going to let her go any time soon, especially not after having her so close to dying on him in the first place. "Caroline fed you vampire blood; maybe that was the reason why." He muttered quietly as she nodded, closing her eyes.

"Yeah, maybe." She whispered back and clutched him tight against her chest.

**XOXO**

Two months passed since Elena woke up and in that time, Stefan had seen more of the hospital than his own home. Sofie and Noah were still very tiny but both of them were gaining weight rapidly. Noah was now comfortably at 9 pounds with his little sister following shortly behind at 8 pounds 12 ounces. They had been told a lot that they were very lucky that the twins were growing so rapidly.

Their rapid growth worried Stefan at first, who thought that it might have something to do with the fact that their parents were once upon a time both vampires but Elena had told him to stop worrying and embrace life. Their babies were doing just fine, whatever forces in life had aided to that would have to be thanked.

Today, however, they had been told by the twin's pediatrician, Dr. Conners, that they could take them home. That thought both excited and caused the duo a great amount of grief. They had never been allowed to be truly alone with their infants in the nearly three months of their existence.

And now, they were allowed to take them home. Stefan had ran home and got the duo carseats that had been gifted to them the day of their co-ed baby shower and when he brought them back, Elena was sitting in what was once her hospital room, holding Noah and Sofie in her arms.

Stefan placed the carriers beside her and smiled, looking around. "Where did the cranky old bat go?" He asked quietly, causing her to giggle.

"Stefan, I told you not to call her that. She's just a little overtired." She said and rolled her eyes, knowing her husband was right in what he was saying but not accepting it. Of course, they couldn't leave without said cranky old bat, so Stefan had a feeling they might be there for a while.

Reaching down, he delicately took Sofie from her and curled his daughter into the crook of his arm. Ever since he'd held her for the first time, he'd never wanted to let her down. It was the same for Elena with Noah. They weren't favoriting their children, but for so long the option for them to have them wasn't there. Stefan felt like he had to embrace the moments he had with his children for as long as he could.

The cranky old bat, whose name was actually Elaine, came back in the room with a file full of paperwork. "I'm going to need one of you to sign the release forms. Then we're going to teach you how to load the infants into the carriers, then you leave." She said in a monotone voice.

Stefan cast a glance over at Elena who just shook her head and he laid Sofie back down into her arms as he took the clipboard from Elaine. He signed the appropriate lines and then held it back in her direction, watching her roll her eyes. "Now, Mrs. Salvatore, I'm going to have to ask you to give me one of the children. Mr. Salvatore, lift up one of the carriers and place it down on the bed beside her."

Several moments later, Sofie was in the possession of the cranky old bat and her carrier, labeled by Caroline sometime during the months that they had been in the hospital. Caroline had done pretty much everything for them since the twins had been born, including the food that she had been delivering almost on a daily basis.

Elaine expertedly arranged both of the car seats and then laid Sofie down in her designated one. "Now, the baby has to be in there secure but not secure enough that she's going to suffocate. You will need to allign it properly."

After a while, both of the babies were settled comfortably inside their car seats and Elena and Stefan were left with a list of things to do once they were settled comfortably in their home.

Stepping off the elevator, the duo fell in step with one another as they walked out of the hospital and into the cool April air. Stefan carried both babies in his arms while Elena carried the diaper bag, filled to the brim - also courtesy of Caroline. While Elena had insisted she could carry at least one of the infant's car seats, Stefan had reminded her that she had only just finished healing from the caesaran wound and he wasn't about to let her rip it back open.

"Get in the back in the middle, I'll load the babies." Stefan said as they neared their car.

Elena looked back and him and arched her eyebrow. "Stefan, honestly, I'm not glass. I can lift at least Sofie and put her in the car before I sit down."

Stefan, though, wouldn't have any of her suggestion. "In, Mrs. Salvatore. I'll take care of this."

Elena rolled her eyes and crawled in the back, settling in while he clipped the babies in expertly. Of course, she could tell that he was having a little bit of trouble but she didn't bother helping him, knowing that he would find offense in her actions.

When Stefan finally climbed into the front seat, it took him ten minutes to put the key in the ignition due to his safety check and another five to put the car in drive.

When they got to the main road, only normally short ten minutes from their home, Elena noticed something. They weren't going very fast at all. She stuck her head up and looked at the spedometer: 20 mph. "Stefan," Elena laughed as she shook her head. "Do you really have to go that slow?"

A loud beep from behind them started every one in the car, including the babies who both, as if on cue, began screaming. "Hey, asshole!" A male voice called from behind him, which Stefan could only assume was the car behind them. "Can you stop driving like my grandmother? Actually, I take that back! She knows how to drive."

Stefan gritted his teeth, clenching the steering wheel. Behind him, Elena had calmed down Noah and Sofie with their binky's. "Elena, cover their ears." He said as he stuck his head out of the window. Elena rose her eyebrows in his direction until she heard Stefan scream, "hey, dickhead, how about you go fuck yourself?" and then pull his head back into the window.

He paled once he saw her without her hands near the babies. "Stefan, was that necessary? You are going a little slow."

"I'm sorry you had to hear that Noah, Sofie." He said before he shook his head and picked up the speed to 60, pulling away from the car behind them. He was still nervous to drive with his children but he knew he had to get used to it eventually. "And who's side are you on anyway?"

Elena giggled and leaned forward, placing her chin on the seat behind him. "You're not going to break our children, Stefan. Don't worry."

**XOXO**

When a duo of screams cut through the night, it was evident that Stefan and Elena were no longer alone in their home.

Stefan, who had been getting up for most of the night, insisting that Elena needed her sleep, rolled over and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He cast a glance behind him and noticed Elena stirring. "Code blue," he said as he stood up and walked through the door and down the hall.

Moving into the room, he looked back and forth as he tried to decide which one he would get first. Both of them had seemed to come alive at once and that was never a good thing. Moving forward, he felt Elena's hand on his back. "I got Sof," she murmured and moved toward their daughter's crib.

Stefan nodded and stumbled over to his son, who's need for attention was definite as he took a big whiff of the area. "Oh man," he said as he reached over and lifted the infant up, feeling him curl into his arms as he moved over to his change table. Across from him, Elena mirrored his actions, changing their daughter into something more comfortable.

Stefan grimaced as he cleaned the feces away from his son's body and tossed the wipe alongside the diaper into the trash. He grabbed Noah's diaper and laid it out, placing diaper cream on his bottom as he quickly covered it up before Niagara Falls fell out of his tiny dick. He'd already had that in his face two times tonight, he wasn't looking for a third.

He picked his son back up and walked over to the rocking chair next to Elena who was already sitting in hers. Elena made everything look easy which discouraged him greatly but he tried not to let it show.

Elena looked over at him for a long while before she noticed something different about what was showing beneath their son's onesie. Then she began to laugh. "Stefan sweetheart," she giggled, trying not to start their daughter who was now fast asleep. "You have Noah's diaper on backwards."

Stefan, who had half fallen back to sleep as he rocked back and forth with Noah started as she asked that and groaned. "Sh- I mean crap, I can't do anything right."

Elena looked at him sympathetically. "Baby, you need sleep. It has nothing to do with your capability to be a father to our children." She stood up and carefully laid Sofie in her crib and then took Noah from Stefan's arms. Stefan looked up at her and she sighed as she saw the bags underneath his eyes. He would have to go back to work soon and she knew he just wanted to be able to spend as much time with his children as possible but he also knew he needed sleep.

Standing up, he cupped Elena's head and kissed her forehead, stumbling past her. As he was walking down the hall, he heard Elena coo to their son, "yes baby, Daddy's silly, isn't he?"

**XOXO**

Ah so I am so sorry about taking so long to update. It has been a wild couple of weeks, with exams and studying but now they are over until June! So excited to just relax and be able to write again. I hope to have another update for you guys soon. I hope this fluff was enough to be a sorry gift to you guys!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Guys, I don't know what to say. I suck at multi-chapter fics because I enjoy reading them a lot more than I enjoy writing them. Plus, it's really hard to deal with school. It's been a pain in my ass. So I'm cutting this one short, but I'm giving it an ending that you all deserve. This story had a lot of potential but I don't want to leave it where I left it. I wanna give an ending. So, without further ado, the epilogue/final chapter of Begin Again; I may in the future post random one shots but this will be the final chapter. However, I've somewhat convinced myself that I want to write another fanfic. With summer coming, it's an option. Who knows what might happen!

Noah sat comfortably in the crook of her arm, snoozing. Her beautiful baby boy, nearly one year of age already; it wasn't easy to remind herself that a year had passed since she'd given birth to Sofie and Noah.

Of course, she hadn't exactly been conscious when it had happened either.

Sofie waddled into the living room, Stefan following by her cautiously. This was a new development in their daughter's life. Just lately she had been pulling herself up and walking around. They were both developing so fast.

"Mama!" She screamed as she ran over toward Elena, nearly tipping herself over several times. She wasn't steady, yet, though Stefan could tell it was only months before Sofie and Noah would be running around the house and then the real fun begun.

"Sofie shh sweetheart." Elena pressed her finger up to her mouth. "Noah's sleeping." She added, gesturing to the sleeping toddler in her arms.

Sofie stomped her foot slightly, another thing she had started doing recently. Stefan liked to remind Elena that she had definitely learned that from her, which she wished was a joke. It was an annoying habit of hers and she did it constantly. Whenever she didn't get her way she would stomp her foot and then proceed to pout.

Stefan bent down and picked up Sofie in his arms, ensuring that she could still the world around her as he settled her comfortably in his grasp. Sofie was much more animated as compared to Noah, who slept a lot and didn't really give them much trouble. She was constantly into things and got fussy whenever someone would pick her up – unless it was Stefan, of course. Daddy got an exception.

Sofie pursed her little lips in Elena's direction, and settled her head back against Stefan who just chuckled softly. "I don't know why you insist quiet around Noah, Sofie literally pokes him while he's sleeping at times and he doesn't even stir."

"He gets that from you," Elena giggles, bending to press a kiss against Noah's forehead. "I distinctly remember trying to get you up this morning and ending up having to unleash our one year olds on you in the end."

Stefan was a heavy sleeper. He would sleep through the end of the world if it ever happened and Elena knew it. It was one of his human habits and as much as Elena hated waiting for him to wake up at his own time most of the time she embraced the ability for both of them to have humanity. After everything they had been through, it was refreshing.

Before either of them could respond, Sofie started fussing to get down and Stefan did so, though it was time for a tour of the house. He followed behind her carefully, just in case anything should happen.

Out of the two of them, Elena knew that Stefan was a little more cautious about their children. Especially since they started walking; if one of them was alert, so was he, following them around the house. The only plus side to this arrangement was that there was rarely any boo-boos to deal with. And if there was, Super Daddy was there to ensure that there were no tears at all.

Elena stood up with Noah in her arms, gently shifting him so that his head lay against her shoulder. Following the duo around the house, she cut off the short tour and walked up the stairs, reminding herself that she had to purchase baby gates as she walked to the nursery and laid Noah down.

Sofie was a quick learner at anything she did, and her newest exploration was the stairs. She had been caught several times trying to crawl down or up them at different occasions and as a result, Stefan and Elena had decided it was time to install the baby gates.

It was just getting time to go and get them that seemed to be the issue between them.

Stefan worked 40 hour weeks and Elena was still on maternity leave from her publishing company, though it would be soon that they would contact her and demand another book by a certain time. Stefan constantly reminded Elena that she didn't need the job because he had the means to be able to keep their family afloat without it, but Elena liked writing. It gave her a sense of relief and lately she'd been doing a lot of it. Most of what she wrote was just little things about her day and how Sofie and Noah had changed their lives for the better.

Walking down the stairs, she met Sofie at the bottom, avidly trying to climb up them and looked around for Stefan. Usually he was fairly close, and if not he would let her know to watch Sofie.

"Stefan?" She called out, looking around as she bent and lifted Sofie into her arms. She moved into the kitchen and the living room. "Where did Daddy go, Sofie?" She asked, looking at her daughter.

Sofie seemed just as puzzled as she was.

"Stefan?" Elena tried again, walking through both areas and searching around for him. She looked out of the doors that lead out to their spacious backyard and didn't see him there.

Sofie began to fuss, but when Elena tried to put her down she clung onto her arms. "Ah," Elena mused. "You want to know where Daddy is." Whenever Sofie couldn't find Stefan, she got into a mood. It was adorable at times and inconvenient at others.

She continued to walk through the lower half of the house, knowing that if Stefan had walked up the stairs that she would have heard him. "Stefan?" She tried once more, moving into his office area, where he was stood, his back facing her.

"All right, Damon. Will you do this for me?" He asked, running his fingers through her hair. Elena backed away before Sofie could see him and start fussing. Elena wanted to know why a call to Damon was more important than watching Sofie. Very few things triumphed over his attention for their daughter.

"Man, you owe me. Your kid would have been born in the backseat of your run down Honda if it weren't for me." Stefan sighed on the other end of the phone. "Damon, your car is a piece of shit. Anyway, just let me know for sure. You owe me one."

With that, he hung up the phone and turned around, catching Elena's eye. "'Lena," he said softly, moving toward her. "I'm sorry, Damon called and I got distracted. I didn't mean to leave Sofie unattended. We both know that goes back in our favor more than once."

Elena looked confused for half a second, but knew if Stefan was hiding something, it was for a reason. "No big deal," she forced a smile on her face. "Sofie didn't do much harm."

**XOXOXOX**

That night, Elena walked into their bedroom after having put the twins down for the night. She immediately walked into the bathroom, stripping down to her underwear before she crawled into her side of the bed.

"What was that phone call about?" She asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Damon owes us babysitting." He responded quickly. "I was cashing in."

Elena raised her eyebrow and looked at Stefan. "What do you mean by cashing in?"

"Well," Stefan paused and rolled over, opening the dresser drawer and shuffling around inside. Elena lifted herself up, trying to peak at what he was doing, but was unable to. A moment later, Stefan rolled back over and handed her a pamphlet. "Mrs. Salvatore, we're going to Paris."

"Paris? Without Noah and Sofie?" She looked panicked.

"Yes, we're going to Paris." Stefan answered and grabbed her hand, kissing the back of it. "For a week, then we're going to Florida where we were meet Damon and Bonnie along with Noah, Sofie and Melly. And we're going to have another week with our family."

"Stefan, we have jobs to go to, and lives to live." Elena tried but he shook his head quickly.

"Already booked off – now no more complaining. We'll be leaving tomorrow evening. So that gives you a day to pack." Before she could respond, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers, rolling on top of her.

Elena pulled away slightly. "We're going to Paris." She grins softly. "Without your mother, right?"

Stefan chuckled. "My mother is in Los Angeles with her new playtoy, I highly doubt she's going to be joining us in Paris." He bent down and kissed her softly. "No more talking, Mrs. Salvatore. If my calculations are correct we have about an hour until Noah wakes up and starts screaming."

Elena grinned. "Whatever shall we do with all this time?"

**XOXOX**

Ok. That was short but meh, I'm having a hard time writing happy!Stelena rn. Anyway, I may be posting something soon, so keep an eye out. Thank you so much for reading. I LOVE YOU ALL!


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